April 29, 2018 – Our second day at Baguio Holiday Villas. As early as 7:00 am, we were all set up for our first escapade of the day – the La Trinidad, Benguet Strawberry Farm.
At around 8:00 am, we all hopped-in to the rented van (V-Hire) that the hotel front desk staff recommended for us for this one-day package tour around Baguio’s main tourist destinations. The van was spacious enough to accommodate comfortably all eight of us – six adults and two kids.
We were all excited to see and experience how it’s like to pick strawberries on this fair summer day. From Baguio Holiday Villas, we travelled at least three kilometers or half an hour drive (give or take because of the urban traffic at that time) to the La Trinidad Valley whose main attraction is this vast farm landscape of strawberries. La Trinidad is the capital of Benguet, seated right next to the city of Baguio with high latitude, cool climate and highlands conducive for large plantation of luscious strawberries all year long, making it famous as the strawberry capital of the Philippines.
Kids got too excited to head on. But before all the rituals, we’ve got to register first in the logbook for tracking purposes. We were given a basket and a pair of scissors. A designated female farm guide had been assigned to assist us all throughout the strawberry picking session.
We were ready for this. Upon entry, we were told to pay P600.00, inclusive of entrance fee of a group of eight and a kilo of strawberries. It cost a lot. But we come to understand that picking our own strawberries is more expensive than just buying from the fruit vendors. So we all think of it as paying for the experience and not just the strawberries. After all, experience is priceless – a first-hand experience of wandering through the stretch of green and red, being able to pick the freshest crops and tasting some of them is definitely a bang for the buck.
The farm guide told us that one basket could fill a kilo of strawberries. So we all headed on to the farm happy, excited with the thought that we had to fill our basket up with fresh red berries!
The road to strawberries was a little bit muddy. But I heard no complaints from the kids. I saw it as a refreshing opportunity than a hassle – a perfect activity for us adults and the kids alike. I assume, this experience gave the kids an appreciation and learn where strawberries come from. For me, it gives me a better perspective of how farming life is, and how simple yet happy local farmers are.
Every angle of the farm was picturesque and scenic. The golden light of the sun added a glowing ambiance across the field which was truly marvelous and captivating.
Strawberries here are heart-shaped, but there’s no ticking heart inside the berries. The farm guide advised us to walk cautiously in between rows of strawberries, all the while we might step them as they were dangling or lying on the ground. Strawberries here were taunting and tempting us to pluck them from their frail branches.
We were told that strawberry picking was a “dirty business”, but our farm guide shared us some gracious harvesting techniques or tips on how to spot the ripe fruits, as well as how to pick and pluck them even without the scissors. Apparently, there were so many little ripe strawberries hidden. And, we had lots of fun looking and uncovering them.
So it’s not literally just strawberry “picking” at all. The activity involves looking and spotting ripe strawberries, uncovering and choosing the right ones for the basket, and plucking them. One of my nephews hold the first fruit he plucked, proudly showed the strawberry to us in his two fingers as if he was the one creating it. And he even tasted it. He is a happy little farmer, in an instant. I agree, that strawberries here tasted better, maybe because of the effort one puts in harvesting them.
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