Some say we’ve lost touch with the land. We whizz around in cars, staring at glowing rectangles all day, and the natural world is at best, a disturbance, at worst, invisible. Not so! Harvesting your own food is simple, rewarding, and feels too good to be true. Anybody, even the blackest thumb, can grow strawberries and you’ll get the quickest and most rewarding harvest of any fruit crop. Unless you’re allergic to strawberries in which case I recommend beekeeping.
As my high school history teacher used to say, “What’s so big deal about strawberries?” Well…without substitute “strawberries” with French revolution and I guarantee he said it. The big deal about strawberries? They are delicious straight off the plant, it’s easy to spot which ones are ripe to pick, they can be eaten whole, and they are good in just about everything. Pancakes? Yes. Smoothies? Yes. Garnish on a grownup drink that you’ll spill over your mauve pantsuit as you gesticulate while discussing “that woman who moved into apartment 4A and has men over at ALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT”? Definitely. [clears throat] Now then, who wants some strawberries?
Writer, architect, father, husband.
“staring at glowing rectangles” – So true! This past year we read Farhenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and I could not agree more with your comments on our technologically dependent society. I really should plant a strawberry plant!
You won’t regret growing strawberries–none of the wait of bigger fruit, none of the thorns of berry vines, and all the prettiness of red berries and green leaves.
LOL, my wife and I grow strawberries (as well as loads of vegetables). We have a couple of variety of strawberry including an old Victorian type that just adores the cooler UK weather and produces two crops a year. We’ve already had quite a good crop off them this year despite the weather being cool and lack of sun. My kids often have them fresh off the plants for breakfast 🙂
Do the Victorian strawberries stunt their growth by wearing corsets? No…wait, how about…do the Victorian strawberries hide under the leaves for fear of impropriety? Hmm…it’s hard to do Victorian humour from a distance of a hundred+ years and from across the pond.
LOL, well they are quite small (albeit very tasty) strawberries so maybe they slip into a corset at night when we aren’t looking 🙂