The sense of smell is an amazing thing. Sometimes just smelling something triggers a memory stronger than any visual ever could. Good or bad, a smell can do a lot for a person and lately my sense of smell has been working in over-drive.

Walking into Schramm Farms & Orchards last week with my mother instantly jarred visions of my childhood lose from the deep recesses. It wasn’t the overflowing bins of fruits and vegetables. Or the urge to get a strawberry shaped cookie from the bakery. It was the smell. It is exactly the kind of smell that makes people want to leave the city and start growing their own food. It’s an inspiring, fresh and overwhelmingly wonderful smell.

Schramm’s is a family farm located approximately 45 minutes outside of Pittsburgh that grows over 20 different vegetables and fruits on 400 acres of  land. In my opinion, those 400 acres produce some the best tasting fruits and vegetable I’ve ever had the privilege to try. I remember on more than one occasion getting yelled at for trying to sneak a raspberry or a green bean from the bins. It was hard to resist all those sights and smells.

My family went to Schramm’s frequently throughout the year when I was growing up, but mainly in the fall when they turn the farm into a pumpkin wonderland. Corn mazes, hayrides and picking pumpkins don’t get any better than at Schramm’s in October. I’ll save that discussion for the fall though.

In the late spring, one of my favorite Schramm’s activities was strawberry picking with my grandma. Every year in May we’d walk up the giant hill to the strawberry field and pick our own strawberries. Weeding through the rows and rows trying to find the best berries really makes you appreciate each bite. I swear that hard work made the strawberries sweeter and juicer, something I’ve  neglected thinking about when purchasing them at the grocery store. While you can’t pick your own fruit anymore, Schramm’s still consistently produces an amazing array of homegrown fruits and vegetables worth checking out… even if only for the smell.