Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Strawberry Delight

The advanced scouting reports from my people in the know point to a banner year for wild blueberries.  Clusters of green chokecherries hang in wait of my return in early August, when the berries are black against the white of the buckets they fill.  Juneberries are already starting to show hints of purple; hopefully the birds don't notice.  Wild plums are now the size of a pea, and as green, and in time will close the door on this summer's fruit harvest.  Yes, the warm and wet of spring - and the lack of a late frost - have set the stage for a berry picker's dream summer.  And starting this year's fruit harvest off?  Strawberries!


When I moved into my house four years ago the patio garden area was filled with crushed rock and a few perennial flowers and bushes.  After a lot of work the rock is gone, the flowers and bushes have a new home, and strawberry plants now fill their void.  My garden is about seven feet wide and maybe 20 feet long.  I filled half of that with June-bearing strawberry plants last year, the other half with ever-bearing plants this year.  So this has been the first berry harvest I've been able to enjoy.....and oh how we have enjoyed it.

Strawberries aren't my favorite berry for eating - blueberries get that honor - and I'd much rather process chokecherries, but it's been a lot of fun for my daughters and I to walk out the door and take three steps to a handful of fresh berries.  Strawberry crepes for breakfast the other day, strawberries on waffles this morning, and strawberries for a snack anytime we feel like it.  And, just for a bonus, I've got a small wild strawberry patch in my backyard.  About the size of a dining room table, it's nothing more than a patch of my lawn I leave unmowed until late June.  This year's wild berries are huge!  Another sign we're in for a banner berry year.

Had more I wanted to say about strawberries, but my writing was interrupted by another evening in the food stand and the midnight hour is close at hand....need to get this posted so #The100DayProject stays on track.  With a little luck (on my part....probably not lucky for you) I'll have plenty of berry adventures to write about in the next couple of months.

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