The Malaysian Insider

FEB 7 — My first experience — and last to date — growing strawberries took place in a plastic planter box in my concrete backyard when I lived in Kent.

My husband tried to cheer me up one day by bringing home bags of soil, fertiliser and seeds to distract me which to me was like the cat bringing its master a dead rat as a gift.

His sincere gesture was appreciated months later when summer arrived. Seeing the sprouting of tiny red strawberries made us do a little dance of joy.

All six strawberries were sweet and succulent and never since have we had such lovely ones.

Now in Hong Kong we get our strawberry fix from the supermarket and roadside stalls.

Maybe it was because I had all those berries when I was pregnant, Ishan loves them too.

So naturally we jumped at a friend’s invitation to take our boys to an organic strawberry farm in the New Territories last weekend.

When we climbed out of the taxi after a brief five-minute drive from Kam Cheung MTR station, we were certain that we had arrived in no-man’s land.

The Chinese-language only website told us the farm was in the Kam Tin Country Club. Nowhere in sight was there a fancy looking country club.

I think the folks here took “country” to mean countryside because when we reached the end of our trek through an open field, past back yards and across a stream, we saw a tiny signboard that read “Kam Tin Country Club” tied to a wire fence.

The “club house” was in fact a zinc roof shed housing foldable tables, stool and food counter. The fare included curried fish balls and tau foo far.

My hardcore animal welfare friends brace yourselves. Next to the shed was another that housed an inflatable children’s wading pool and a large wooden tub, both filled with goldfish.

For HK$10 (RM4.48), a child is provided with three ‘fishing nets’ (plastic sieves lined with tracing paper, which disintegrated quickly in the water) to ‘catch’ the fish with. And regardless of how many you’ve caught or not, you get to take two fish home.

There was also a petting zoo and we had looked forward to happy-looking baby animals in their stables or sheds with grassy floors.

Instead, I noticed other parents hurriedly walked their children through this sad zinc roof-over-concrete floor area where three kids (baby goats, not children) and a few rabbits in small cages were on display.

Beyond that was a much happier sight: a great big grassy field for children to run free.

On the far end was a bouncy castle and three giant inflated KTCC mascots.

There was a massive shed with hoards of people huddled in small groups next to the bouncy castle .

It turned out to be a barbeque orgy. There must have been over a hundred pits, fashioned out of steel tubs, each cooking up a storm.

This was the deal: for HK$88 per adult and HK$68 per child, you are provided with a pit for four hours, two bags of charcoal and a tray of raw food that included sausages, fish balls and meat.

Finally, we reached our destination – the strawberry field. It wasn’t as large as I’d expected but the view was beautiful. Brown mountains appeared to rise from the horizon into the bluest skies I had ever seen in Hong Kong.

Before us were rows of strawberry plants speckled with red, shiny fruit ready for the plucking.

Ishan and his friend Kai glowed when they were handed a small rattan basket each. Mums and dads took charge of the scissors and in no time we joined other families ankle deep among rows of strawberries.

Ishan and Kai took their jobs seriously, selecting the reddest ones, lifting them up to be snipped off by an adult, then carefully placing the prized pickings into their baskets.

I was in for a shock when it was time to pay up. The strawberries cost $60 per pound! This meant our little loot came up to HK$78, almost double of what we would have paid at the supermarket.

There was no doubt that these were far better looking and had zero carbon footprint but as were were early in the season, which runs from January to April, some were a little sour.

The owners sure landed on a goldmine, getting visitors to pay a premium to harvest their own strawberries but I admit it was worth the smiles on the boys’ faces.

They were impatient for the first bite but we refrained from gulping down a strawberry or two while plucking as we were informed that the fine for eating on the premises is a hefty HK$100 per berry!

So we left quickly, rinsed our pickings at a standpipe and let the boys dig in.

Kai’s verdict: So sweet! So nice! Ishan’s: More!