Mandatory activity alert.

  For some reason I found myself contemplating an unusual proposition, would I like to go fruit picking? I had been to a pick-your-own about a zillion years ago and had vague memories of sitting around with my sisters, stuffing our faces with strawberries or crushing them for the fun of it and ending up totally covered in bright red goo. 'Sure', I said, 'why not?'

  So at the crack of dawn we drove out to a farm near Esher, armed ourselves with a stack of punnets and got picking. This, I discovered was no random, spontaneous whim. We were straight into the blackcurrant patch to rekindle some childhood memories from my wife's Swedish upbringing. Four litres of berries later, we moved on to check out some other crops.

  I noticed a couple of things. Firstly, a short while after entering the strawberry field, I had totally overeaten and was feeling a bit sorry for myself. Second, you have to get your hands on as many kids as you can and drag them down there. In my little garden at home, we have a few plants that yield edible things and it was very exciting to see the transformation from flower to fruit, but seeing the massive farm was amazing.

  If your kids, (or some kids that you know), stayed awake long enough in biology to learn about plant reproduction then this is an incredible opportunity to see the various stages and (possibly with a little cajoling or enthusiasm), actually appreciate where plant based food actually comes from, e.g. not from sterile crates neatly stacked in the supermarket.

  You may live in the country so your sprog may know all about this stuff but if not then there's no better way for them to grasp the transformation and eventual sprouting of fruit and veg that plants go through to enable you to eat the stuff. I just realised, you may know bugger all about the topic in which case you've got no excuse. That's your new mission, get some kids and show them where their food comes from. Handy tip, bring some wet wipes cos your fingers (and possibly your face) will get mighty sticky.

Kirk out

Chefsebastian.com