strawberries around the corner
My favorite summertime activity growing up was checking the progress of my strawberry plants. I’d go out to the garden, check to see if there were flowers or green berries, and wait oh so patiently for them to ripen up. And once they were ripe, I wouldn’t wait to wash them off in the sink inside, but instead I’d dip them in the chlorinated pool water and eat them while I was swimming. (Mom – let’s just pretend we didn’t read that, ok? Love you!)
Sadly, my skill at cultivating strawberries as an adult is poor at best. I bought a strawberry pot, but it seemed to help roast and toast my plants more than help them grow. Heck, our neighbors plants grow wild with no special care and turn out perfectly, yet somehow mine can’t survive one tiny heatwave.
I guess it’s a good thing that we have a strawberry field (and farm stand) less than a mile from our house. It’s literally around the corner… and the berries are freshly picked each morning and afternoon!
I think I’m going to leave the art of the berry up to them this year, and spend my money on their berries instead of my hopeless plants. I’m hoping that by the time Miss L wants to grow her own plants, that the magic will return and she’ll be able to pick her own berries.
Any other suburban/country dwellers have a favorite local farm stand that they visit in the summer?
5 Comments
stacey
Those strawberry stands are the thing I miss most about Sacramento (aside from my family). The one closest to our house used to let us pick our own when I was little, they knew us so well. That was the best of both worlds – we didn’t have to grow them but still got to pick them!!
Amanda
I wish we had a strawberry stand somewhere! That’s awesome!
serena @bigapplenosh
Yum! I wish we had fresh strawberries nearby (in NYC, ha, unlikely!). Back when I was growing up in the burbs, my parents bought 15 strawberry plants on a whim. Despite our neglect, they ended up spreading and taking up half our backyard! I’d definitely say your dipping them in chlorinated water was a step up from my rubbing them on my arm ;)
Our Family World
I have very poor skills in gardening!! Seems nothing works. LOL.
I love strawberries and I always go picking with the kids: great activity.
Olfa
Kim Murray
Hi there, stopping by from the blog hop! Love your blog…so very pretty! We used to do the strawberry picking every summer too. My mom used to take us then we’d make jam afterwards. Now she does the same thing with my 3 boys!!! Every now in the I intrude and tag along. Thought it’d be fun to follow you. Have an awesome weekend. HUGS!!!
Kim
http://www.thekimberlymurray.blogspot.com