Strawberry Season

Homegrown strawberries are the epitome of thrift = thrive. Although strawberry plants are one of the easiest in the garden, practically a weed, getting a reliable harvest of berries from them year after year takes a lot of work. In fact I think they are one of the most labor intensive crops I grow. Which is why truly fresh, ripe  strawberries are so expensive to buy. At the farmer’s market I would have to spend $3 for one tiny little pint of berries, which just one of my kids could demolish in less than 2 minutes. There’s no way I could afford to keep our family supplied with strawberries, if I was buying them with money. 

Instead, I buy them with my time. I invest many, many hours in my strawberry beds throughout the year, and when strawberry season comes around the dividends roll in. The kids can wander through the yard, picking and eating. I harvest basketfuls of strawberries and just leave them on the kitchen table as an indulgent snack. The kids embellish their granola with sliced strawberries every morning. We eat strawberry shortcake and strawberry pie. I have not yet cultivated enough ground to grow our year’s worth of strawberries, but during May and June, we have a glorious glut. And I feel positively, luxuriously, rich.