I find myself pacing sometimes and thinking about the strawberry beds.
We haven’t uncovered them yet. It feels like it is so very much time to do so today, as it was 67 degrees, but we have a freeze coming in a few days. Ron says we will uncover them the day after. In the meantime, I have way too much anxiety over the strawberries.
Last year, after a fall planting the year before, the strawberries didn’t make it through the winter. Ron thinks he may have covered them too soon. I was devastated. Strawberries are one of my reasons for living. I am so scared he’s leaving them covered too long, but that freeze…
I know it seems dramatic, but last summer without strawberries was a heartbreak. You simply cannot find organic u-pick strawberries within an hour of where we live in Maine, and even the ones that are a couple of hours away are few and far between. We found an amazing farm outside of Belfast that had organic berries, but there was literally a line of people waiting for them to open on the few days they had berries available. We managed to get enough berries to make one small batch of strawberry jam, which I shared with people I love and then had one jar for myself. I told Ron if we wanted a farm product that might actually make some money, organic strawberries would be the way to go, but right now, I just want our three beds of berries to live and keep us supplied.
Since I finally managed to figure out sourdough bread, I have been longing for strawberry jam. To me, sourdough toast desperately needs strawberry jam. Thankfully, I found a lovely strawberry jam made in Maine from Stonewall Kitchen. It’s delicious but, of course, it’s not organic, which I prefer, especially for strawberries, because strawberries are notorious for hanging onto pesticide residue–it’s all those seeds.
So I am hopeful but scared about our strawberries this year–and doing a lot of pacing and thinking. I cannot go another year without strawberries. I have been so down about the world. I know you probably have been too, so we gotta have the little things like our strawberries.
I am afraid to go look because, if I go look and the plants are dead, well, I don’t know what I’m going to do. So, right now, the strawberries may be alive. Please cross your fingers for me. I’ll keep you posted!
And what do you have that keeps you going right now, that brings you a bit of joy?
I hope you get strawberries! I’m further south but a lot of mine died this year. The ones that made it look strong if frost doesn’t kill the blossoms. Hoping for one batch of jam. Meanwhile there is the peach tree. Peach jam has become my favorite.
My peach trees started blooming this week on April 18. I have five on my property, and I did not plant them. Somewhere along the line, I bought a local peach tree and threw the pit in the compost. It grew into a tree that produced more peaches and so it goes. I don’t know the exact variety, but it has pretty red leaves and plum sized fruit. I count it as one of God’s blessings. I wish your strawberries well.
Oh, that is such a gift! I love that your peach trees are blooming. There is nothing more lovely than fruit flowers blooming in the spring. So much hope there! I pruned our peach trees this weekend, which always makes me nervous. I must have watched a dozen videos over the years about pruning fruit trees, and there is definitely a lot of different advice. I end up just going with don’t let it get too tall and try to keep the center open to help prevent disease. That’s my only plan! 🙂