We took a break from isolation to visit Oak Haven Farms & Winery to pick our own strawberries and roast hot dogs over a fire. It was a fun excursion, about a forty-minute ride from our new house. We parked in the dirt field then poked our heads inside the gift shop, café and wine tasting room. A staff member told us to go out in the field and someone would give us a crate to fill with fresh picked berries.
  
We stooped to pluck the strawberries off the stems. When tired of bending, we gave up and headed into the shop to have our bounty weighed so we could pay.
  
  
Then we bought hot dogs that came with rolls and a forked tool. We wove the meats onto the tines and went outdoors to cook the hot dogs in an open fire. I loved the charred taste.
 
  
Then we went back inside to order a strawberry shortcake with whipped cream for dessert. It was a treat and enough for two to split.
We skipped the wine tasting that cost extra as we are not fond of fruit wines or the Florida grape varietal. But if you’re interested, you can indulge.
  
If you wish to visit, check online to see their schedule first. Strawberry season is limited.
Oak Haven Farms, 32430 Avington Rd, Sorrento, FL 32776 or http://www.berriesandwines.com/
I’m looking forward to warmer weather so we can get out more and explore the many sights of Central Florida. Suggestions are welcome!
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46 thoughts on “Oak Haven Farms”
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Nice photos..looks like y’all enjoyed!
We did enjoy it, including the strawberries we took home to eat later!
I love when you post these excursions you take Nancy. I will keep this one in mind for next year when hopefully, I will be able to head south again for the winter.
I hope you’ll be able to travel by then. We are excited about all the new places here to explore but things need to improve before we go too far.
Yummy – the strawberries look delicious! We live in Michigan and are awaiting a bad snow storm right now that is brewing.
Hope you don’t get too buried in snow. I am cold enough with temps in the 40s here. Stay warm!
It sounds almost like a mini-vacation and a great way to get out safely!
It was, although the store could get crowded. With warmer weather, I’ll be more inclined to go exploring.
I’d love to do something like that!
Maybe there’s a farm near you, if not strawberries than other crops.
The hot dog is perfect!
It was a treat and a fun way to cook one.
looks fun
It was a fun day! We’ll have to find more farms to explore.
Sounds like you had a fun day! Thank you
I like visiting farms, farm stands and farmer’s markets. The fruits and veggies always taste better.
That looks like so much fun! I remember when our daughter was very little I took her to pick strawberries up in Toronto where we lived then. She ate so many strawberries her face was a mess but she was so cute! The strawberries were yummy!
I’ll bet your daughter was adorable with strawberries smeared on her face. Blueberries are easier to pick as you don’t have to bend down to get them.
This looked like fun! How nice to be picking strawberries this time of the year!
An advantage of Florida weather is that we grow produce year-round. This is strawberry season. Blueberries ripen in the late spring.
I’d love to be picking Florida strawberries right now! Instead I’ m prepping for the coldest winter storm in ten years! Lotsa layers, blankets, tea and books to keep warm with.
Stay warm and safe! Hope your power stays on. I remember one blizzard where I grew up that knocked out the power. My parents built a fire in the fireplace for warmth.
I would love to visit there, I love the veggies stands we use to have around here
Penney
I remember the veggie stands from where I grew up in NJ. Their fresh corn and tomatoes were the best. Here there is a fruit and vegetable store not far from our new house that has fresh produce. They’ve the largest eggplants I’ve ever seen.
Looks like you had a great day! I haven’t heard of this place. My husband’s family is not far from here. Next time we visit, we’ll have to check this out.
Check the website before you visit to see if it’s open. I imagine it is seasonal depending on what crop they are growing.
Looks like such a fun day! We also have a strawberry farm near our home here in SC. We go every year to get the freshest strawberries possible. It is Gurosik’s Strawberry Farm and the also have other fruits, veggies and gorgeous flower to purchase. We just love it. Glad you all had such a great time!
Fresh-picked strawberries are sweeter than the supermarket variety, aren’t they? I like blueberries too. The fresh ones last a lot longer than store-bought containers. Do peaches grow in your area?
Thanks for the giveaway!
Thank you for stopping by, Connie!
Looks like fun! I miss doing things like that with my hubby and the kids. My mother is in frail health so we pretty much stay at home to protect her from catching anything.
That is thoughtful of you. Hopefully you can get your mom vaccinated. It’s been a long year, hasn’t it?
Ooooh! I hope you made some strawberry jam! I miss my local library bookstore being open as the members always make and sell fresh strawberry jam at their April and summer book sales. Miss going into the library and perusing the shelves. I can order online and pickup but it just isn’t the same thing. Alas. But thanks for the yummy memories!
I miss the library events, too. Now that we’ve moved, I’ll have to join a Friends of the Library somewhere nearby once things open up again. Meanwhile, we have to start going to farmer’s markets. That’s the place to pick up local honey and fresh fruits and veggies.
I love fresh strawberries. We used to pick them and make strawberry preserves.
You’re more ambitious than I am. I just like to eat the strawberries fresh. They’re sweeter when picked compared to the supermarket variety.
I haven’t picked strawberries in a very long time! This looks like a fantastic place to visit and unwind!
Yes, it’s a fun afternoon. I always like it when a place has a gift shop and sells snacks! Plus, you could do a wine tasting here if desired.
Looks like loads of fun!
It was an enjoyable afternoon. We’ll have to find more farms to explore.
I would love to visit this farm, especially right now while snow is headed my way!
Yes, I’ll bet fresh-picked strawberries sound good to you during winter. I’d like to find a farm where we can pick tomatoes.
Way back when … I bought an 1863 Western Reserve Farmhouse (still live there) that came with 2 1/2 acres allotted to me that included half of a strawberry patch! I picked strawberries from my strawberry patch ONE time (I know!) and made a Strawberry Dream Whip Pie with them. So yummy!! There are still a couple of farms right down the road from me as well that sell everything from flowers to pumpkins to produce during the three seasons and one of them has self-pick fruits just like you experienced, Nancy. I live so close but I’ve never done it again, but I know people go there from all around the area to pick strawberries, blueberries, etc. There are some local apple orchards in neighboring towns also. Now THAT I remember doing as a child because my father liked to pick apples and buy apple cider there. Oh, and we’d pick grapes too. I loved the big, plump purple/black ones with the thick skins (Concord, I think). They were so fun to squeeze until they exploded into your mouth!!! Such fun!
Unfortunately, I no longer have part of a strawberry patch or my rhubarb plant 1) because I was never raised to garden and don’t know how to farm and 2) the farmer I bought my house from obviously moved away and no longer tended the fields of crops and his wife who was a green thumb with BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS that I used to have left with him! The farmer left his three sons in charge of farming the land, which they never took seriously and then the dad passed away and then his sons used their land (and mine as well which was always a contention) as a playground: riding four-wheelers and noisy BMX motorcycles on it, snowmobiling on it, even off-roading and zig-zagging in a pickup truck on their land (and mine) after heavy rains, leaving huge ruts all over my yard as well. They even had the nerve to bring in dumploads of dirt onto my land to make dirt bike trails and jumping ramps for their motorcycles; in the end they merely rode my land down to leave the bare roots of my trees showing. Oh, that reminds me … I had a peach tree, a pear tree, and an apple tree when I started out in my backyard. Those didn’t last long either without proper care. And my poor kitty — you should have seen him jump out of his skin every time one of those BMX bikes started up when he was alive. I felt so sorry for him!! Plus to this day they drive their then children and now grandchildren around on those motorized bikes/vehicles without helmets, just sitting in front of them all over that bumpy grass. I wince every time I see it, concerned for their safety. Everyone’s really, since the adults are constantly racing each other as fast as they can. I know I’m going on and on, and I apologize, but I guess it feels good to get it off my chest after living with it since 1993. It gets better. Guess how much land of their own they have to ride on without infringing on mine, and yes, my dad did go talk to them once after I first got married, but it did no good really. They still have 11 1/2 acres plus because they also ride up and down the two intersecting township main roads along my house (which is illegal, mind you). So about a dozen acres and they still have to ride on my couple in my backyard too! I bet you’ll never guess what time they do all this riding, along with building big bonfires way back where they live and drinking there with friends (partying). Actually, they ride all day, anytime after 10:00AM but they’ll also ride all night too, often past midnight, when neighbors are trying to sleep. A couple times the fire department was called out to their huge bonfires because people driving by think something is on fire out there in that open land back there. I promise, it was never me that called. Boy, did I get off on a tangent here. Sorry guys and hey … everyone please be safe out there during this “crazy” time of ours! Show some more kindness and compassion than my neighbors, the boys who never grew up, playing with their toys. Thanks. (Smiley Face)
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How awful and frightening to have neighbors like that. And too bad that your farm lost its crops etc. Farm work is hard and constant and requires skills most of us don’t have. So I appreciate the farms that are left when we can visit them. I don’t suppose you can put up a fence to keep these folks off your property? They don’t sound like people you’d want to cross.
Those berries look beautiful! So red! Looks like it was a fun day.
Yes, we enjoyed getting outside and picking fresh fruit. So much so that we visited another farm , which you can read about shortly in another post.