The New York Diner - Valrico, Florida

If you’ve ever wondered where your wintertime fruits and vegetables can grow and thrive during a frigid cold spell like our country is experiencing right now…Just head SE out of Tampa on Florida Highway 60. Your eyes will be opened, and you’ll have a new appreciation for the back-breaking work it takes to get those juicy, red strawberries out of the fields and into your morning cereal bowl…and to get those oranges squeezed and poured into your glass.

We passed huge strawberry fields, and 50-100 workers were doubled over, backs straining, to pick each berry by hand. Luckily for them, it was a cool morning…but I could only imagine how miserable that job would be if it was a hot day…or with swarms of bugs in their faces. They were all wearing long-sleeved shirts and had scarves around their necks to protect from the sun. God bless them…We were past them so quickly I couldn’t snap a picture…and maybe I didn’t want the reminder of the difficult and challenging jobs some people do.

Soon we were passing acres and acres of orange groves. We saw semis hauling loads of oranges to processing plants, including Florida’s Natural (my FAVORITE juice brand) headquarters in Lake Worth. The loads of oranges are amazing…