Food Comes from Farms, Or What I Did with 10 Pounds of Strawberries

Strawberry season has come to Maryland!  Here in this fair state, or in any other state of our Union for that matter, you could be forgiven for missing this fact because strawberries are available pretty much year round in your local overly air-conditioned supermarket.  At least they pass for strawberries, if you don’t mind that they’re firm, not particularly red in color, and have the texture of a mealy apple.

On Saturday afternoon we asked E if he wanted to go get some strawberries.  And like any red-blooded American, he responded by saying, “Gonna go to the store!”

“Actually,” I corrected, “we’re going to go to the farm to get strawberries.”

I’m pretty sure he didn’t really know what a farm was, but I think he understands it better now.  If E were a farm kid, he’d probably be learning a few farm chores by now, so we didn’t waste any time putting him to work:

(that's his Mimi showing him the ropes)

What he lacked in precision, he made up for in enthusiasm.  My favorite thing about two year olds is that they don’t differentiate between “work” and “play.”  It’s all work, really, but they don’t have the negative associations with work that most of us adults do.  Work, to a toddler, is inevitable, because their minds and bodies are always in motion. (At least when they’re awake.  But if you’ve ever shared a bed with a toddler, you know there’s a lot of motion going on then, too.)  When your mind and body are both engaged in the task at hand, learning is inevitable.

And I learned something too.  I learned what it feels like to pluck a glistening strawberry right off the vine and put it in your mouth.  It feels…warm.  This seems obvious given that we were out in a sunny field, but the sun is so far removed from the grocery store strawberry, that I think it’s easy to forget that this little fleshy round got its sweetness from the sun.

I also learned that 10 pounds is A LOT of strawberries.  See that flat behind E?  We filled the entire thing.  Oops.

I’m determined not to let any of these strawberries go to waste.  E has definitely done his share by cramming fistfuls into his mouth.   We grown ups have done our share of that as well, but really, there are only so many strawberries you can eat straight from the container.  I spent Saturday night and most of Sunday coming up with ways to use these strawberries before they turn bad.  I’ve sliced them and folded the into pancake batter, I’ve cut them up over yogurt, and I’ve carefully frozen a large bag for later use.  And how many strawberries were left after these efforts?  Um, a lot.  A way lot.  But I am not accepting defeat.  Check back later in the week for some of the ideas I’ve come up with for using a surplus of strawberries.

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