How sweet it is on the farm!

We feel so blessed to have America's oldest working plantation in our backyard. Since 1681, Boone Hall Plantation has occupied the 738 acre parcel at the corner of Long Point Road and Highway 17N. There are 120 acres dedicated to an agricultural farm with a long history of growing crops: indigo, pecans, potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes. The farm halted operations after Hurricane Hugo but resumed in 1996, when Willie McRae started U-Pick Strawberries. He later added peaches, blueberries and pumpkins to the U-Pick fields.

This spring we treated our clients to strawberry picking. We had our very own field and picked gallons of fresh berries. It was well worth the muddy boots! There is a HUGE taste difference between the strawberries you find at the grocery store and those freshly picked. We ate almost as many as we picked, and Vanessa's daughter Olive was the champion taste-tester of the day.

Dede loves dishing out recipes, and these all incorporate strawberries. Her famous sour cream pound cake is featured in the Strawberry Shortcake recipe, and you can learn more about its history here.