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| Daffodils in February |
Spring sprung early this year. All the fruit trees and spring flowers are
confused. They should be bloomin' about
this time of year, but we had such a warm winter that we had blooms in February. We lucked out and didn’t have any late hard
frosts to speak of though, so everything faired pretty good. The apple trees didn’t bloom until after the
last hard frost. The blueberries had
already started blooming but they are a hardy lot and faired just fine. The buttercups and daffodils got bit a little
but there’s always plenty to take their place in a week or so. Irises are blooming now. The tulips have come and gone. Wild honeysuckle is starting to bloom… and I’m
seein’ a few daisies on the side of the road now and then.
Yep… Spring sprung early this year. Strawberries came in early this year. The farmers were picking their first few ripe
ones back in March. That’s the earliest
any of them can remember, so they told me.
Today, we went to the Strawberry Fields down the road a piece and got a
few flats of them. Folks can go and pick
their own, but my back won’t let me do stuff like that anymore, so we just go
and pay a dollar or so more per flat and get the ones they picked earlier this
morning. What’s a flat? Oh, it’s just a shallow cardboard box, like
what soda cans come in sometimes when you get 4 six-packs. Now comes my favorite part… the eatin’. There will be Strawberry Shortcake for
sure. Sis may make one of those “Shonney
Strawberry Pies”. For sure, there will
be mornings with strawberries involved in breakfast somehow. Then, if there’s any left, we’ll freeze a few
Ziploc bags full for another day.
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| Strawberries in the Field |
I once heard a fella say that the strawberry was at the top
of the food pyramid … don’t know if he meant THE food pyramid or just his, but
I tend to agree with him. There are few
things that strawberries won’t go with when it comes to eats and drinks. IHOP’s strawberry crepes are the next thing
short of heaven. Strawberry… ice cream (the homemade kind, of course)... milkshakes…
smoothies… cakes… pies… dipped in chocolate… eaten with cream… or just dipped
in sugar. Let's not forget strawberry preserves (great on a hot buttered biscuit), or some sliced on top of a stack of pancakes. I can’t think of another fruit
that is more versatile or more loved.
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| Strawberry Fields Forever |
There have been songs written about strawberries and the
fields they grow in. Strawberry Fields
Forever, by The Beatles, is the one that keeps rolling through my mind. The Strawberry Shortcake dolls were popular
when I was growing up too. Strawberries
are touted nowadays as being a health food, full of antioxidants and all that
sort of stuff. Maybe they should be the
top of the pyramid.
Yes, you can buy strawberries in the grocery store most any
time of the year, it seems… but there’s nothing better than a strawberry that
was warmed by the sun just this morning.
Find you a local strawberry patch and go pick you a bucket full. Take the family; it’s a fun thing for the
kids to see how they are grown. If you
can’t do that, at least go to your local Farmer’s Market and get you a
few. You won’t be sorry!
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| Nothin's better than a strawberry that was warmed in the sun this mornin'. |
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