Free Strawberries!
Due to the extreme heat of late these are being given away. We were there this afternoon and there were still heaps (hundreds of kgs) left so should be on again tomorrow from 11am.
They are very ripe so need to be used imminently (we are making lots of jam tonight!)
This this this^^^. Awesome that the farmer is happy to do this so please, if you are able, return the favour. The strawberries didn't just appear packed and ready to go by themselves even forgetting the whole watering etc and growing side of things. If able please help out the life blood of Australia!
Is Sparta
Could strawberries be frozen and used later?
yes, we did it couple of times, but they don't test as the fresh ones.
What a shame! I was thinking to put some in the freezer when they become cheap as chips in the coming weeks (I am far from Adelaide Hills, so I won't be getting these free ones).
Don't get me wrong, they are not that bad. Have you tried the frozen ones in WW or Coles? They will be similar.they are good for smoothy or baking.
i can't see why you wouldn't.
I've purchased strawberries cheap as chips this year, $2 for 16 punnets from the market.
I've frozen them in the freezer and used for smoothie and added to bubbled wine.
Mix with strawberries in with vanilla ice cream then freeze..or dip in choc, then mix with ice cream. Freeze for later.
@msmhw: Nah, I haven't. I only buy the more expensive ones in frozen, like blueberries and cherries etc. Since strawberries are always cheaper than the others, I like to buy them fresh. But since they're in season and even more cheaper, I thought to freeze them for a later use.
You can freeze them for use in smoothies. Clean and remove all stalks/leaves. Then pop them in the freezer for an hour on a baking tray. Then put them into ziplock bags.
Great! Thanks for the tips. Cheap, homemade smoothies sorted out! :D
I've always just put them straight into a zip-lock bag in the freezer. What's the benefit of the baking tray step?
When I first started freezing them, I'd just freeze them in zipkock bags and they'd clump together. Freezing them a bit first seems to fix that problem.
Could strawberries be frozen and used later?
Yep! Just pinch the tops out under running water, then allow to dry before popping in the freezer.
We've put some in the freezer, but we will probably just use them in smoothies, they won't be anywhere near as nice as fresh.
Admire the generosity and sensibility of the farmers not to waste food. Brannor has a good point about the gold coin donation.
To freeze them properly you need to blast freeze them or use dry ice at home to snap freeze, just freezing them in the home freezer will result in a mush when defrosted.
Once frozen you can't expect them to return to original berry. You need to use them as they are frozen. DO NO DEFROST. Put them into smoothies frozen, or into cakes or muffins frozen. They are fine for these things. I actually love eating them frozen - like mini ice block nuggets without the added sugar and still sweet and full of strawberry flavour.
Frozen strawberries work very well in smoothies or sorbets.
We keep a supply of frozen mangoes/berries/bananas in the freezer and they make the perfect base for smoothies, and you can play around with different combos so you aren't drinking the same thing every day.
Edit: Don't unfreeze them, blend them from frozen!
Years ago I would send crews up from Brisbane to pick end of season stone fruit around Stanthorpe. They'd pick the very ripe fruit free meaning the farmer saved money & energy spraying so much for fruit fly. Fallen fruit would rot & attract the fruit fly, from my understanding. Also prices for ripe end of season fruit is usually too low to warrant the cost of picking. Mutually beneficial.
Fruit was railed to Brisbane next day & sold that day around industrial areas off back of hired trucks. I had no storage, so everything had to sell in a day. Buyers got good cheap fruit.
Employed unemployed, paid them a wage plus as much fruit as they wanted for their family. Everyone was happy with the arrangement. I coordinated the work, trained & counseled the workers (they improved with the work experience & personal support), but all profits ($thousands per day - a reasonable sum at the time) went to worthwhile community works (sports equipment for local street kids, food for needy, temporary housing, etc) - that's what I enjoyed at that time.
Just putting the thought out there. Downside is that picking free fruit lasts only a short while per year. Farmers welcomed my crew picking fruit for no payment - but times may have changed. (Gave me plenty of money for my pet community projects.) This deal just brought back some good memories😯
What an entrepreneurial social enterprise! Why did you stop doing it? Does anyone do it now? It could be done with a not-for-profit or another social enterprise that has connections with unemployed people or community groups.
A (too long) story of scrounging, worthy community projects, & why I don't do it any more (on that scale)…
Yes - entrepreneurial social enterprise like all entrepreneurial adventures are difficult to maintain in the long term. The reasons & conditions for establishing it change over time. The outcome is not necessarily the reason for setting it up. And the entrepreneur is usually different to a good business person in their drives & ambitions.
I had watched friends dumpster dive out the back of supermarkets. But one ended up with pneumonia & the managers hated the activity. There had to be a better way.
I approached the 2 local supermarkets with a deal to clean up their veggie areas & take all their veggie waste free. That was composted to enrich a huge (2 acre) veggie garden established with friends - 20 minute walk from Brisbane CBD.
That was my first community project & incorporated teaching gardening at the primary school across the road. More people came to help.
Things grew (literally) from there. The father of one of the students was an alderman & Chairman of an important Council committee. When I arranged a meeting to discuss the gardens & ideas for challenging play ground design, I discovered that. His son had taught him about organic gardening & recycling from what he learnt from us. So influential contacts are helpful… just you may never know who they are at the time.
With the supermarket waste, stores would give me surplus stock & gifts to support the projects. (Kilos of chocolate one time!) We just had too much food for our little group, so we started bagging & freezing fruit salad to distribute to locals in need. Someone regularly brought over day old stone ground bread from a bakery (on a bicycle with a trailer),
We were supplying so much food. So supplied a kitchen for homeless, then started operating a regular free soup kitchen - with lots of free fruit. Fresh fruit is not high on the list for most homeless, but it is good. A chat & respect sometimes does wonders. It just takes time. Those receiving food would often give drawings or a story to share - they wanted to be part of the event.
So I thought there must be a better way than waste food… So made some contacts in fruit growing areas & started buying tonnes of inexpensive fruit from farmers. Then added employment to the projects & it all took off. Sold up to 6 tonne per day. I guaranteed the quality of the fruit with money back + another bag of free fruit.
The end of season free fruit picking was seasonal & supplemented the regular business. When the business was optimised & the major challenges were over - I gave it away to move onto other challenges.
I liked developing confidence & skills in my workers (people with poor work histories & social skills) , much more than making money. I wonder what they have done with their lives.
One I remember was a big powerful guy. But he wouldn't sell the fruit. So I had a chat to help him open up - he was black belt in Karate, but was concerned he had a temper. His secret was he had difficulty with rejection.
So I told him just to drive the small truck, and bag the fruit on the tray while I sold inside the factory. When I came out, he was like a little kid - so excited he had sold so much fruit. He didn't know I parked there every week at knock off time. Those people knew how good & cheap my fruit was - no one would reject him😊
I encouraged workers to give fruit away before making a sale (to harrassed mothers with kids, old people, sad people - make their day, I was paying). The first sale in retail is often seen as important - so I made it easy & that way it followed the ethos of the community organisation. Those who gave away some of my stock returned with an empty truck earlier & happier - often with better profits.
When approaching people in their workplace, I asked workers not to push for a sale, but to make the person feel worthwhile. That may have a positive effect, with the person not taking out their anger etc on others - the ripple effect. Of course that was wonderful training to teach often socially awkward people how to be a good friend. People would comment on how much they had changed - for the better. It worked & sales improved.
Others do similar services now, with volunteers & some paid positions (some charities, church groups etc). I was independent of any group. Groups located in the growing areas are best suited to tap into seasonal surpluses.
Collection of surplus food is big time now. I've passed on my experiences in informal discussions with wonderful Ozharvest. I was there when over a tonne of frozen deserts needed to be removed from a warehouse within the hour & distributed (a major supermarket had too much stock, so the cheapest item had to be 'dumped'). The bigger you get, the bigger the potential problems.
The logistics of collecting & distribution of large quantities of perishable goods is daunting. Especially when you can never disclose its origins, but can be sued for effects of contaminated food, H&S problems, accidents, regulations need to be met… things I never considered.
That's why I moved to a business model & redistributed the profits. I could then use the business for training to develop people. I don't like working for others much so set up my own businesses, & I like designing integrated approaches.
I also set up half way houses, but change is difficult when life had been just a long disappointment. Moved on to helping very successful people - a much easier business & was paid to meet interesting people. While weeks of counselling damaged souls brought no lasting effect, a simple suggestion to a client (including a Government Minister) could have great effect beyond that individual. It's about being effective. I think I learnt more than my clients😯
I've never worried about money - the more I give away, the more I have. People tell me I'm lucky, but there's no such thing. Now I mainly travel, often helping or giving things away to those in need (had a wonderful time volunteering in a poor village in Myanmar, but the best bit was walking the streets giving away mandarins - back to my origins), and just telling my (long!) stories. I've learnt telling the right story can be powerful.
My guiding principle (discovered years ago while travelling) is to live a memorable life.
Your approach to helping others by meeting a need through opportunity is very inspiring. Hope that you get to record or pen your stories - would be a great collection of "living a memorable life" I am sure.
@goodcopbadcop:
Thanks😊
I used to lecture at uni in writing (no degree, no experience - except for half drunken story telling which developed into popular writing on student life). My classes were too popular & over full as other students & university staff attended.
But writing is an isolating activity - I prefer the intimacy & immediacy of story telling. So I won't be writing.
I attempted a book of my early travels, but it was too challenging & disturbing for readers. As an award winning author put it - my book did not allow readers to suspend disbelief. I was trying to bring about change in the reader - not the usual approach. That worked well for my paying clients, who expected to be taken on an inner journey of change.
I've worked developing writers & interviewed authors like Douglas Adams (Hitchhikers Guide books). My knowledge of writing is about nil. I attended the first International Writers Festival in Myanmar, meeting many accomplished writers & leaders. I'd tell my stories from village to village there. I taught locals about Foreigner's ways of thinking - which requires understanding of both cultures. Like most of my life, I didn't plan it - I just stumble across interesting events.
I never intended doing what I have done - I'm an accidental entrepreneur / philanthropist at best. My nickname given to me in Japan is "very lucky". It's always a surpise to me😯
Im usually "lucky" with money. In South Korea no ATM would accept my cards one night, and I was out of cash. As I realised it was useless worrying, money blew up at me in the street. That's happened a few times. On my way the next day to stay in a Buddhist temple, I found a huge wad of cash on the bus. It wasn't mine - how could I enter a temple with someone else's money! It would have spoiled another unique experience. So handed it in. People give me money on my travels ($200 once in mountains in Japan).
But then, I don't travel like others. In my business I taught up to 20 adults at a time to see the world through the eyes of a child. (It was my finest work & participants changed their lives. They often skipped out the door.) It's all amazing & fresh that way. People relate to my curiosity & welcome me in.
I just see opportunities & think I can do something (despite everyone saying I can't). Like set a 2nd year exam question & supervise the exam while still a 2nd year uni student myself - well the University was paying.
Back then, I'd screen print t-shirts I'd designed, selling my failed out of registration prints dearer as they came with a story (never print with a beer in your hand). At uni parties people would retell my tale that the more drunk you became, the more the t-shirt would appear with the colours lined up. Its always nice when I overhear my stories (even that basic) from the mouths of others.
I've recently been asked to work in Japan designing t-shirts! But, I'd rather travel than settle down with work. I spent a short time there last year studying traditional storytelling (Rakugo). Pity I can only speak a few words in Japanese. Back again in April for the cherry blossom in the mountains around Fuji-san🗻
Helping others achieve is inspiring. (I really only do it for myself. It is as good as any drugs I guess & quite hard to stop.) Travelling I meet many people, often changing their & my life.
My specialty seems to be in helping in the process of dying! Easing a person through that transition is a unique experience. It goes beyond most peoples comfort zone into a realm they often fear. Storytelling is a good & traditional tool to venture into another persons unknown.
Lucky this deal has expired & will have few visitors - this is way off discussing the deal😯
Good on ya!!
Should make jam out of them. Shitload of them.
What's that? You wanted strawberry? Well how about RAWBERRY?!?
Made with lightning. REAL LIGHTNING
Are you going to make a Powerthirst smoothie?
Yep because I want to be good at sports
Freeze them to make strawberry smoothies! They should last a good month or so in the freezer!
I have made wine out of strawberries. Really delicious and full of natural flavour. The riper the fruit the better. The strawberry liqueurs in bottle shops are almost always made from artificial colours and flavours without any fruit.
I wonder how many strawberries I'd need to justify the drive there and back from Queensland and still get a bargain…
Basic maths:
Fuel is about $30 per 100kms, strawberries could be $6 for say, 10 in a punnet. Brisbane to Mylor is 2000kms. Fuel, car wear and other costs (toll roads) comes to around $1800.
If I was to pick up a little over 300 strawberries the trip would be totally worth it!
Don't forget you may enjoy the trip and views, and God knows what can happen during the trip. Maybe you will buy a lottery ticket and win a few millions.
Think you missed a zero there champ…
What time will they be there until today, I can swing past on the way home form work
reminds me of the story about that aussie farmer on how his carrots were oversize
I think its all gone. FB update says
"Thank you everyone for response.
We are know out of fruit"
Thanks Ashfon, I've marked as expired
![Free Strawberries @ Walker Family Farms [Mylor, South Australia]](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/43/292043.jpg?h=565a57b0)
Feel sorry for all the produce farmers with the extreme weather at present.
Why not be good to them and give a gold coin per KG or something? They're giving away their livelihood.