The Girls - a U-Pick Farm and Store in Delray Beach, Florida

During a recent cold spell in Florida we decided to take the grand kids to The Girls Strawberry U Pick. This is a pick-it-yourself farm/country store in beautiful Del Ray Beach.

If you have Magellan it will be easier to find. You really don't see it right away as you drive along and it doesn't look like anything from the front. It's tucked away in what looks like a strip mall. There is ample parking but unless you go early you may have to wait for a spot. You enter an ordinary front door and you are transported into a combination Cracker Barrel like country store, ice cream parlor and farm.

The store is packed full of gifts, jellies, jam, hot sauce, muffins, and a long, long ice cream bar. The flavors are phenomenal. The ice cream portions are mammoth, if you're getting the ice cream for kids ask them to divide a portion up. Candies are a throw back to my child hood particularly the huge sour balls. There are wonderful gifts you can purchase, adorable aprons are absolutely charming. Pink with polka dots and full bib style just like Grandma used to wear. These are $15.99, not outrageous considering how nicely they are done.

Prices:They are comparable or perhaps a trad higher than a grocery store but you are getting the picking entertainment and they have to cover all the stuff you eat off the plants along the way.

Proceed on through if you can, just promise the kids you'll do all the candy store stuff after the picking. On a rainy day you can do just the candy store and the store called "The Boys" for food shopping that is just up the road.

As you enter the picking area you will find little red pails and red scissors available on tables on the left. Each person takes their set and off you go. The scissors are blunt little child friendly scissors. You will pass plants that are for sale, tables with fruit samplings on them and lots of fruit trees. We had some extremely sweet Grapefruit.

As you walk on through there is a little pond with three gorgeous swans, cages with Macaw, Cockatiels , Nanday parrots and nesting doves and Romeo and Juliet , miniature donkeys. Due to the chill the cages were wrapped but in clear plastic so you could still see all the exotic birds. Once you've taken all the photographs of your kiddies and the animals you can start the picking.There are also photo ops are everywhere, remember to bring a camera. There's even on or two of those huge cut out picture boards with the holes for the kids faces. There are also several great looking antique cars you can put the children in front of for pictures.One car is painted all over with strawberry plants.

lThe vegetable and strawberry plants are in endless, endless rows in a hydroponics set up. There are poles with white planters in tiers . Each tier holds several plants and the planters spin so you can pick from all sides. No bending, no issues for people with bad knees, no having to lift the kiddies up to reach the plants. They are a great height for kids or adults. There are so many aisles and so many plants there is no running out of whatever produce you want. Along the way there are sample tables of some of the available fruits. Lychee was not in season but Carambola was. Fruit trees line your walk into the fields. At different times of the year you will find different fruits and veggies, whatever is seasonal.

There are lettuce varieties, string beans,gape tomatoes and endless rows of strawberries to pick. You can pick Pineapple plants as well. Melons, Eggplant, Cabbage and more are available for sale in a small stand near the strawberry fields. Even though we weren't there at the height of the season we managed to fill our buckets full of good food and it was not crowded due to the weather. Your food pickings will be weighed when you check out.

Even though it was a school Holiday and cool weather the place was not too crowded. It's extremely large, acres and acres, so be prepared to do a lot of walking.

Heading back to the country store area you check out . Items are weighed there and buckets and scissors returned. You can then cruise the huge variety of candy, muffins, cookies, gift items and shop. Then it's time to sit and eat the ice cream or candy. All in all for very little money you and the children can have a really wonderful time. It can also be very educational as you teach them what hydrponic gardening is and what the different food groups are. They will see how vegetables look before they get to the supermarket and to their tables and it might envourage them to taste something new.

One little negative, there are very few places are to sit in the store. Aisles are tight. We planted (no pun intended) the kids on the bench of an upright piano near the entrance to the store area. There were two little ice cream tables, already occupied, to our left.

I'd have to sy I'd give this 5 stars despite that little seating issue. It's a marvelous, fun place to go. It's always nice when something can be entertaining for both parents and children and educational as well.