It’s that time of year again. The time we (on California’s Central Coast) wait impatiently for, dream for and drool for (literally). It’s strawberry season!! Red, juicy, plump, little red hearts bursting with flavor. I’m lucky enough to live in prime berry country. Hundreds of acres in our county are planted in these beautiful red gems. And the nearest berry stand is only a few miles away, so when I buy berries they are fresh from the field that morning. No shipping. No cold storage.My neighbor invited me to the women’s club lunch; the guest speaker (Jim) just so happened to be a strawberry grower. It was interesting to see this accountant turned berry grower talk so passionately about his product. The pride he and his family took in putting forth the best strawberries possible. We learned the history of the strawberry, dating back to the 1600’s. He spoke of how the berry had evolved through the years with breeding the best attributes of French wild varieties with the more consistent producing US varieties. And, we learned about the intensive hand harvesting and the importance of farm labor (no matter what side of the issue we fell on.)
At the end of his presentation he gave us all a 1-pound box of berries, picked right before he came. As Brianne and I savored each one, exploding, full of flavor in our mouths, I thought about Jim, while I munched away, and what I had learned. I may be an advocate of organic gardening. I may encourage suburbanites to pursue home food production and a homesteading lifestyle, but I will never again complain about the price of strawberries. For each season, this family puts their livelihood on the line to produce a little bit of heaven for us to enjoy.
During lunch, Jim and I had a nice chat about home berry patch production. I’ve never grown strawberries before, but I can see a new addition to my garden is in my future.
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