I've been looking forward to strawberry picking at Henley for my birthday for a few weeks now…read moreduring the pandemic and movement restrictions that are in place. They update their facebook page daily due to weather and strawberry conditions so it's easy to keep an eye out before you make the drive. It's buried deep in Pungo off a charming road and a beautiful leisurely drive through the countryside. We easily found it, pulled in, and weighed our baskets and were sent off to one of the fields to pick. They had 2-3 open at the time with several rows to choose from and plenty of parking. It was muddy, which I knew from their warning to wear the proper shoes and clothes, but we managed to find a few rows and found tons of available strawberries. I was worried about there not being enough for everyone but that was not a problem - we quickly picked about 7 pounds of beautifully ripe red berries and headed back to the main station to weigh them. We stood in a socially distanced line where I browsed their veggie plants (for making your own home garden) and their beautiful potted flowers. They have some friendly wildlife here as well you can interact with as the goats were happy to come to the fence and be seen. Great experience - I now have two jars of fresh strawberry jam and tons of frozen strawberries for smoothies! This may be a new tradition.

The world right now is weird. Most things feel put on hold or have been cancelled. I'm so thankful…read morethat a few traditions are able to continue in this socially distanced world. Strawberry picking in Pungo is an annual tradition for so many people across Hampton Roads. We may not have the festival this year and there isn't as much fanfare around the activity, but the farms are still open! We visited a week and a half ago on a beautiful Saturday morning. When we pulled on the property an employee gave us the rundown on their social distancing procedures and pointed us in the right direction to get started. They have two different types of strawberries, one type are the ones better for jams, and then the other type are good for snacking. Sorry, I don't remember the name of each type. If you brought your own bucket you need to get that weighed before entering the field. They have signs everywhere to remind you of tehir social distancing guidelines. The staff and most customers were wearing masks in the market area. Out in the field few were wearing masks, but everyone seemed to be pretty good about keeping their distance from each other. Most importantly, the strawberries were FANTASTIC! We ate most of ours as a snack, but made a puree from them too. It was a great mental distraction from everything happening in the world and a fun way to enjoy a beautiful day!

On the way from False Cape, VA State Park, I stopped here at Bay Breeze Farm. Seems I brought my…read morechicken with me to grill but forgot my veggies. They had a nice selection. Looked super fresh. I got bell peppers, zucchini, and a potato. I can prob chop and cook in a foil wrap over the fire. They also had some super great smelling homemade goats milk and other natural ingredients. I bought 3 of those. French Lavender, Patchouli, and Honeysuckle vine. They smell amazing! They also have jarred fruits and jams, frozen and fresh seafood, which was too pricey for me, and some pretty plants. Overall it was a good stop.

On this, our first trip to the Sandbridge portion of Virginia Beach, we were happy to find this…read morefarmers market. As "city dwellers" we asked for help picking a watermelon. Todd and his grandson helped us. The strawberries were also great and much better than what we find in grocery stores.

My family and I were looking for inexpensive fall festivities. So we ended up at Cullipher Farm…read more It's a bit of a drive out in Pungo, but definitely worth going. When we arrived it was a lot of people there. They have cows, a playground, picnic tables, a hay ride (seasonal), a corn maze, apple and different fruit picking, a pumpkin patch, farmers market, ice cream, and etc. They also have port-a-pottys on site. This was my first time and me and my family enjoyed ourselves. Even though it was a lot going on people wise we were able to get a picnic table and had lunch there. They had 2 food trucks out there also. The kids were having fun on the playground which is a decent size. The hay ride ends at 2pm so we missed that. But it looked fun. The market part isn't big. But they have huge brussel sprouts, tomatoes, different local honey, pies, apple cider, watermelon, frozen meat, and like 10-14 different types of apples. I seen apples I never knew existed. I'd love to have tried them all. Their apple cider is delicious. I got a quart and made apple cider floats, and they were so good!! Add a little cinnamon sugar and pumpkin spice and it taste like pie!! My daughter had an apple cider slushy with vanilla ice cream and she was hooked!! She went 4 days in a row!! Lol. The baked goods were different pies, cookies, muffin tops, and more. Everything was priced reasonably. The people there were friendly and everyone was just having a good time. I recommend taking a trip out here if you want a laid back fun time!! Check them out!! (Check their website for updates on hours, certain activities are seasonal) Also if you're in the area check out the dinosaur park down the street in front of the Military Aviation Museum. The park is small, but it's free and they have dinosaur statues you can take pics with.

Every year I make a trek out to Pungo for fresh sweet berries from Cullipher's Farm. There are a…read morebunch of different produce to pick from and even yummy ice cream or strawberry slushes. The workers are nice and laid back so you can wander around with out feeling rushed. When your back can't take picking the fields don't worry they have pre picked options galore. Before you leave be sure to say hello to the farm animals!

I had the pleasure to tour New Earth Farms with owner Kevin Jaminson. A lot of positive things have…read moretaken place in a short period of time under new ownership since he purchased the 22 acre farm a little over two years ago. I have been involved with New Earth since construction. The market sells produce, eggs, meat, vegetables, bread, flowers and more to the public. Everything available will be harvested from New Earth. Items will be sourced to their their three restaurants, Commune and Prosperity Kitchen & Pantry. The educational component such as Farm Table has been ramped up with the installation of a new kitchen. Cooking classes can be scheduled at www.newearthfarm.organd are for all ages and groups welcome. Other educational items that can be booked through their website are Farm Lab & Food Lab. Both offer unique experiences with hands on, or classroom learning. Thank you for the personal tour Kevin. Awesome things are happening at New Earth. Check out their seasonal hours during the Winter prior to a venture to Pungo.

I attended one of the workshops given here on tinctures and teas and such a few weeks ago with…read moreanother health conscious friend. We learned some cool new tricks and met some new people at the workshop. I was impressed with the little building where the training happened - it was a cold day after a snow and it was warm and toasty inside. I had no idea this farm was nearby (I live just down Nimmo) and spoke to the Training Director who informed me that they have tons of workshops on canning, vinegars, foraging and other things during the warmer months as well as an active farmer's market area where they sell lots of goods grown on their farm. I'll have to add this into my rotation for fresh veggies and new training!

This seemed to be the friendliest farm for us to go to with our dog! We went to another farm down…read morethe street and were greeted very rudely about our dog while still in the parking lot. Before we let him out of the car, my husband walked up to the stand and asked if our dog could be outside and they were very happy to have him outside of the lanes of the strawberry patch (understandable, he's a dog after all). The strawberries were abundant, big, and juicy! We easily filled up our bucket in minutes. We will 100% be back here next year instead of some of the biggest farms in the area.

It's a nice place for picking strawberries. plentiful picking, other products to chose from also…read more Jams, Jellies, local honey.

Last year they delivered to West MinsterCanterbry and we all loved the jams, jellies, salad…read moredressing and fresh fruit and vegetables!! Looking forward to seeing them again this year!

My favorite farm. Support a local farm and a small business at the same time…read more Most amazing farmer. He gets excited about what he plants and grows. Best strawberries I have ever tasted. You can pick or you can just pick up produce that they picked. They have everything but I must say that he has a lot of varieties of corn too. They are so amazingly delicious that I have stood right there with the farmer and eaten it raw right off the cob. It is that good They are family owned and just amazing good food. Support a local farm and a small business.

been going to Cindy's for well over 20 years. very friendly, helpful and just nice people…read more quality plants. flowers and produce. cheese, butter, jams, jellies and other special items! can't say enough nice things!

Whenever I'm on this side of town I always stop at Cindy's Produce. They are open daily during the…read moresummer. They have cantaloupe, watermelon, heirloom tomatoes, local honey, different sauces, other fruits and veggies, and also plants. I got heirloom tomatos that are pretty good with nice flavor. The uglier the tomato the better they seem to be. Lol. Idk I'm not the tomato whisperer!! They weren't weird and soft or anything like that. The prices are reasonable and I enjoy seeing what they have. The young man who works there is always nice when he checks me out. They're located off of Harpers Rd on the side of the street. You can't miss them. Check them out!!

Sooooo cute! And right in my backyard! Just off Seaboard road in the field beside Wave Church…read more Last year they planted later due to COViD. But this year they're open in late June. Peak blooms are in the next 4-5 days. Follow them on Instagram for up to date info on blooms and hours. Super friendly staff. $25 gets your group in and you can get 10 sunflowers. They'll give you a bucket but you can bring your own shears (or they have some to borrow) and they'll wrap them for you too in cool napkins for the drive home. Suggest if you have a long drive you bring some water for them. The sunflowers are beautiful and plentiful and there weren't that many bugs. Also - this is a large field of sunflowers so you can really spread out. It felt like we had the entire place to ourselves. We roamed for half an hour before we saw other people. They have a small boutique selling themed items all featuring their bee or sunflowers. Adult shirts are $25. The bee pins are $10. A sunflower coloring book with colored pencils is $13 or $10 for just the book. Etc etc. Love love love!!!!

Is a "pop up farm" a thing? Yelp has a category for "attraction farm"- I guess that fits!…read more Goldpetal is a beautiful maze of sunflowers. Not the "you'll get lost" kind of maze, more like a "you'll want to get lost" kind of maze. They opened on August 27th and reached max bloom on September 2nd. Their Facebook page indicates that you may only have another few days to catch this season's blooms. We went on a Thursday evening around 5:30 and only had a short line to get inside. The line was much longer when we were leaving around 7pm. It's $20 for 10 stems. That includes entry for up to 5 people. You can get an extra 10 stems for $10 and I think military gets an extra 5 just for showing their ID. You can't just go for the pictures, you've gotta pay. Dogs can come too- just make sure they are on a leash and you may want to bring water for them if you're planning a longer trip. They give you tips and the rules before you enter and supply you with a metal vase and cutters. I'd suggest bringing a basket instead of using their bucket though. After that the field is all yours. They have several different types of sunflowers. We got a little carried away and now I don't know what to do with all our flowers, not a bad problem to have. "By the time you're reading this it's probably too late." Cryptic, but if you're reading this after Labor Day weekend your best bet is to bookmark this for in your Summer 2021 collection and sign up for their mailing list on their website so you don't miss out next year!