Strawberry Fields Forever.....

  I LOVE strawberries! I love the taste, I love the smell and I love what they make. (click)

  I especially love what they make...poolside. (see previous post) Top it with a little whipped cream and I'm in heaven.

  So when my aunt suggested to go strawberry picking, I was IN THE CAR !  "Let's go!"

  So off we went. We didn't have far to go, just through the center of town to the other side. I could SMELL them already.

SIDEBAR: Center of Town.

  As we're cruising through downtown, my aunt was wondering outloud where all the chickens were? I said, 'what?' She said that usually there are  chickens just roaming around, taking in the sights. I said, 'WHAT??' She said 'yup'. Apparently people take them in stride, stop to let them cross and just co-exist with them! Roosters, too. Talk about the ultimate hen-pecking ! 

  I asked, 'why?' She said, 'Dunno'. So we proceeded to the Strawberry fields. (We did actually see the chickens, pecking away on a grassy knoll next to the mini-shopping center parking lot!!)

  We parked next to the strawberry fields. There weren't too many pickers there, so we grabbed a basket each and headed off to the recommended sections '1 to 3'. It was a little slim picking, as many were recently picked over and the green ones weren't ripe yet, but there were plenty.

  A BIG sign out front said not to eat the strawberries before paying. MY TIP: Pick a big, fat, juicy berry, turn your back to the farm stand and serreptiously slip it into mouth. Chew very slowly so that no satellite  from above will capture you masticating on an illegal berry. Truth be told, I only did this once. I'm paranoid about stuff like that, but I needed to know if the berries were worth my valuable time. (I kept getting distracted, mentally, tho....thinking 'bout those chickens!)

We picked 2 baskets full and paid for them. But we couldn't leave yet because I ALWAYS have questions that need to be answered, the sooner the better. 

  ie. 'Do machines plant all these plants?' (No, machines make the holes in the black plastic....Mexicans come and plant them physically.)

       'When are they planted?' (October-ish)

       'How many plants?' (188,000 ish) 

BUT, my chicken questions remained unanswered...until I got to my buddy, the internet.

(This is actual poultry walking through town...probably going to make a deposit.)

  This is what Wikipedia says about the chickens (and their boyfriends)....

"This little town is known for a population of chickens that roam the downtown area (ironically) near the restaurant "Popeye's Chicken". There are so many of them roaming the area that often traffic stops as they cross the roads. The chickens have been featured on t-shirts and coffee mugs and posters. 

  Contrary to that which some believe, there are no specific laws or statutes surrounding the chickens, neither for their protection nor for their removal-the latter being something some residents would like to see due to the danger they pose with traffic in the congested town center. For others, however, the chickens add an element of fun and provide the town with a uniqueness that can be boasted by no other neighboring town."

I have no more questions.