This Memorial Day was also my birthday and I love when both “holidays” collide. I decided this year that I wanted to pick Strawberries… a crop that is struggling in our region with the weather in recent years. All crops seem to be running about 2 weeks early this year due to extreme weather so picking berries on my birthday is a little unusual. Also, I did think twice before pursuing this activity because I knew we’d be melting with temperatures in the mid 90’s and all of the humidity the south has to offer to go with it. But the younger children had picked some berries to “try” at a nearby farm the week before and they really wanted to do this again. They wanted to “taste” them straight from the field in the worst way. So the first battle became finding a farm that was still growing berries followed by making sure we had enough sunscreen and drinking water. We all donned our flag T-Shirts and sun hats; then headed to a farm that was an hour’s drive for a family adventure.
This variety of strawberry doesn’t’ grow very big and may be why they are still growing with some help with irrigation. Not only did they seem a little on the small side they seemed a little “seedy” and tough… good for survival but just as sweet and delicious at the same time as any other strawberry we enjoy eating. There were plenty but you did have to look under the leaves and they seemed to grow best hiding in either cool, moist patches of clover or within the thorny weeds where not even a bug would venture in to get to them. We got on our hands and knees and began to fill our baskets. We picked our own family’s assigned rows and then began to work on previously assigned rows that others had vacated after they’d not picking thoroughly. We were willing and the farm would rather harvest and sell those berries to us than leave them to rot in the scorching sun.
Kaitlyn, with her flushed cheeks from mere existence in the heat of this day, was expert at picking berries and also presented me with a birthday bouquet straight from the field.
I found the boys picking together. They are best buddies and Nathan was pleased with finding such a large berry.
Lindsay did a great job picking strawberries and was persistent as she searched for the best places to pick from.
Lindsay was great at pointing out these spots and helping others to fill their baskets.
Haley was a good sport in spite of the heat and as she tasted a sun-warmed berry she said it was a taste of heaven; a totally different fruit from what you buy in the store. Tristan found picking to be good by the irrigation pipe. Haley and I wondered about the survival of earlier generations who had no air conditioning to look forward to, or a fan… or maybe even a bath! Yet their very existence would have depended on working in the fields all day every day.
In our efforts to keep our legs as cool as possible we ended up with some scratched and dirty legs coming home for a good soak in the bathtub but nobody came home with a sunburn.
Within two hours we picked somewhere in the neighborhood of 27 quarts of strawberries and filled our wagon with 33 pounds of fresh sun-ripened strawberries. They smelled like warm strawberry pie as they released their soaked in warmth and radiated the morning heat of the field.
As a side note it took me three days worth of “free time” to wash and hull these rather small berries which were frozen individually and now are bagged in my freezer. Some of that will get made into sweet batches of jam soon on a fair weather day when I can throw open my windows and as the summer days become more relaxed from that of the school year rush.
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