Pick Your Own at Vaughan's Strawberry Farm in Holly Springs

Unfortunately, this wonderful strawberry patch no longer exists for this purpose. It was so close and convenient to my home, but due to an illness in the family, they decided not to grow strawberries for the first time in 2015.

With more than 30 rows of strawberries at Vaughan's Strawberry farm it's fun to pick your own with your kids. I took Dani (2) and Jordan (3 1/2) and we had a blast.

I wouldn't recommend eating while you pick, as strawberries need to be washed thoroughly before eaten (and are one of the dirty dozen, the 12 fruits and vegetables most likely to contain high levels of pesticides) but they are delicious fresh and still warm from the sun.

Vaughan's has improved their kid-friendliness by adding three see-saws and a castle with a slide for the little ones in addition to letting them feed the chickens and the pigs ($.50/cup of feed).

My oldest loved the pigs, which stuck their little snouts through the fence and let her pet them. Dani loved the chickens, who clucked and strutted around the food dish until she dropped it inside the fence, and then they all came running over to eat.

Picking your own ($1.85 per lb) is 50 cents a pound cheaper than buying them all ready to take with you ($2.35/lb).

We will probably go back soon (maybe this weekend). I have been making home made fruit leathers and knock-off NutriGrain bars with fresh strawberries and sugar filling. (Much cheaper and much better for my kids - minus some of those 5-syllable ingredients).

825 Wilbon Road
Holly Springs, NC 27540

HIGHLIGHTS: You can feed the pigs and the chickens (for a small fee), play on see-saws, a small play castle with a slide and of course there's the strawberry picking, which is seasonal and a great opportunity to help teach kids about plants (for example, I explained to the girls that plants eat and drink through the roots that stick in the ground and the leaves absorb the sunlight and that helps strawberries grow).

LOW LIGHTS: I'm not a big "bug" person, and my kids are a little squeamish with spiders, which of course are found everywhere in a garden/farm. Dani (2) is a little young to pick strawberries, and more than once I had to explain to her that the green strawberries are babies and not ready to be picked.

COST: $1.85 per pound of strawberries, 50 cents for the pig/chicken feed.