School starts tomorrow, and my uber-social 2nd grader isn’t nervous a bit. But I am.

After all, since she won’t be able to drive for another 9 years, I’m the one responsible for tracking down her school supplies. With items like “disposable poncho” and “HP 4×6 photo paper” on the list, I think it’s quite possible I’ll forget something. I also think it’s possible that the scavenger hunt she did at camp — find something blue, find high-heeled shoes — was easier than this.

So rather than jump into a day of errands, we decided to spend the last day of summer doing one of our favorite things: picking berries. We arrived right when the farm opened and had the raspberry patch to ourselves while we filled two flats. Then we rode the wagon to the strawberry field for a few quarts of strawberries.

Sure, the afternoon was hectic as we crammed a day’s worth of errands into a sliver of time. All that back-and-forth in the car felt a lot like fall. But this morning it was still summer, when we had time to amble down a row of berry bushes hunting for the sweetest, ripest fruit; time to laugh at toads and bunnies and chickens; time to help a little sister pick berries just a bit out of reach; time to be together before we all get pulled in so many different ways.

P.S. The berries will be around from now until the first hard freeze so if you decide to go berry picking, stay long enough to fill up a flat. Raspberries and strawberries freeze well and are great partially thawed as dessert or, better yet, added to yogurt or ice cream for a milkshake or smoothie. To freeze them, spread them unwashed in a single layer on a cookie sheet and put them in the freezer until the berries are frozen solid. Then double bag them and put them in the freezer until needed. Wash before eating.