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Monday, September 8, 2014

Strawberries


Do you ever think
of strawberries? I
do. I recall the tiny
sweet wild berries,
growing around
our cabin in Northern
MN. Pure ambrosia
of the gods.  You
could lie down in
a patch and eat
your way into a
state of bliss.

That was also
around the time
when   Ingmar
Bergman's movie
"Wild Strawberries"
came out. (mmmm think I'll have to see that movie again)

All of these thoughts popped into my mind like a mini jolt
of lust when my neighbor asked if I wanted some
strawberry plants. Suddenly,  reality of the govt. food
regulatory agencies came to mind and I thought of the large
attractive strawberries that now dress up the produce
departments but taste like one of Cody's dog chews.

Also remembering how they send out the long runners and
take up so much room, I was about to tell the neighbor, "no"
when she went on to say they were Alpine, tiny little berries
that produced no runners but stayed in a clump. uummm, I
 thought for a second and said, "I would be happy to take
some plants."

I planted 5 small plants that flourished into round molds
of lush green, dripping with tiny red berries of a decadant
memory. OMG they ARE the wild strawberries of my past.
I've been reliving an old movie all summer.

Remember ALPINE.....no runners....round clumps and
sheer lust.

54 comments:

  1. I haven't had fresh strawberries in so so long. I cannot wait to have some again!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Keith
      When you do, I hope they are the really good organic, old fashion taste ones.

      Delete
  2. lol so you know what dog chews taste like? Hmmm experimenting at your sea? hahaha

    Sounds like they are sure pure bliss for you. Never a fan of strawberries at my zoo. Only ever tried store bought ones once or twice though, I think.

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  3. I knw... I JUST KNEW after my finger hit publish, that someone would say I was eating dog chews and I'm not surprised it was the Rhyme King. Hahaha

    If you bought your berries in a store, then you too, know what dog chews taste like..... no flavor, tough and you really have to chew. The Alpine melt in your mouth and taste divine.

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  4. Hi Manzanita ... the Alpine strawberries are so so delicious - glad you took some plants .. and then thoroughly enjoyed them .. cheers Hilary

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  5. Hilary
    I'm so glad you are familiar with them too. They are the best. What surprised me was how fast they multiply and how easy to grow

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  6. Just wandered over from Cranky Old Man's blog. Love your blog. I'll be back.

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    Replies
    1. Leenie
      Thank you for stopping by. I stopped by your blog but as I said, google never allows me to use Manzanita so no one ever knows who I am.

      Delete
  7. Yes, and wild strawberries beat out dog-chew grocery store berries hands down.

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    Replies
    1. Leenie
      So right. That was why i gave up eating strawberries for so many years..... but now I'm baaaack. Ha

      Delete
  8. Manzanita, I really need to tell you my experience. I love organic strawberries and I love to grow everything from seeds. Three years ago I bought strawberry seeds online because the ones I wanted were not on sale in the local stores. They grew into some interesting "blueberries", or so I thought. In fact these plants were poisonous. They were not blueberries either. A kind of sabotage. I never understood what happened.

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  9. OMG How horrible. You all could have been poisoned. I'm sure you notified the company and I wonder what they said. I wonder how you get strawberry seeds? They must be the little black specks in the red part. I wonder if you dried the strawberry, you can use the seed. I have a huge book on "keeping seeds" so i'd better look it up. There is a seed club in town where they exchange their home grown seeds. I've always wanted to go but I've never made it there yet. Typical, huh?
    You must not have eaten them but that is scary.
    Thanks for the story and what can happen because i do order all my seeds online.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I did report it and took pictures.
      I surmise this is what happened: the seeds I bought were non- GMO from a company that sells . Not genetically modified seeds, so I believe another company tried to sabotage this company...

      Delete
    2. Julia
      That is terrifying if companies are pushing their GMO's on everyone. There are some really good organic seed companies online and of course, I've always trusted their seed. It never occured to me that competition could be that dirty. This town has the usual garden seeds in organic packets but the supply is always limited and for anything out of the ordinary, I, too, go online.

      Delete
    3. Yes the strawberry seeds are on the outside, I've never thought of drying berries and planting them, but now I'm curious and may try it.

      Delete
    4. River
      Thanks
      I never thought about planting strawberry seed either. The seeds must be the things that crunch when you eat them. I still haven't looked it up. I have this huge wonderful book on saving seeds but I don't open it very often. I'm going to do just that when I get off the computer.

      Delete
  10. I will look for these Alpine strawberries. Will they survive in Florida? When to plant them??? Can I find them online? I haven't planted strawberries because they take over the world, but it sounds like these do NOT.

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  11. Robin
    That was my reason exactly for at first thinking I'd say no, thanks to my neighbor but when she said, "no runners" I wanted to try them. I don't know if it's too hot in Fl but maybe they would need some filtered sunlight. Here I just use a little mulch to keep them moist but evidently most strawberries survive the deep cold we have here. I bought a lot of hay bales to cover stuff for the winter. My sweet granddaughter who sings unloaded and carried them to be put around the chicken coop too. I can't even lift a hay bale anymore, but a lot of do get to weigh up to a hundred pounds. Ha.
    I bet you could find them online but as I said, my neighbor gave me some of hers and i had never heard of them before. There are some vids of them on YT too.

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    Replies
    1. In Florida I would suggest growing during your coolest months under shade like trees or shrubs. Find a place that has morning sun and afternoon shade.

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    2. River
      Some good advice.... your weather must be close to the same. I lived in Florida 25 years but never had a garden because I didn't like all the strange bugs and snakes one has to deal with. And we alwas came back to either Montana or Minnesota in the summer.

      Delete
  12. I've never had one straight from where they grow. They lose freshness from the days they are sent from trucks to factories to trucks to produce deparments

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Adam
      Right you are, you're going to have to get yourself a little strawberry plant and if you don't have a good piece of ground you can plant these in big pots too. Look on YT, there are some vid of house berries in pots.

      Delete
  13. Since the voles ate the roots of all my strawberry plants and my bed is gone, I will think about replacing them with Alpine when I figure out how to get rid of those beggars.

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    Replies
    1. Patti
      That's a shame that the voles won't even allow you a garden. I saw some videos on YT where they are growing the Alpine berries in big posts. Since they don't send out runners and get to be a big round bush, they must work nicely in a container.

      Delete
  14. Salivating at the very thought. I love strawberries - real strawberries that is - like yours. Not the muck they pass off as strawberries in the supermarket. Much like tomatoes these days actually. Don't get me going on that!

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    Replies
    1. Wendy
      Go ahead and "get going" on tomatoes. I'll even join you. There is nothing like growing your own food, esp. when you know you have organic seed and some natural soil without chemicals. I have to dehydrate a lot of the veggies for soups for the winter. I used to "can them" but I think the veggies hold their flavor better when dried.

      Delete
  15. I've grown strawberries and they never made it to the table, as soon as ripe I pop them in my mouth, wonderful flavour.
    Merle.........

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Merle....me too.
      The Alpines are so tiny that I stand out in the patch and pick and eat. I've never had enough for even one bowlful. I eat them all. tee hee

      Delete
  16. Replies
    1. Holy Ghost
      Even if one didn't like strawberries, they would love the Alpines. They are so sweet and melt in the mouth.

      Delete
  17. ALPINE: noted. although I knew already they are a clumping type with tiny berries.
    I've often thought about growing some, but I'll have fierce competition from slugs and snails and birds.

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    Replies
    1. River
      You are way ahead of me because I've never heard of Alpine berries. I've seen videos on Youtube of people growing them in containers.

      Delete
  18. the last time I had strawberries were in December. We just don't get the right type here. It's way to sour!

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  19. thetwinsmommy
    It's been a waaay long time since I've had strawberries. I had given up on them because the commercial ones all taste like cardboard. Even the so-called "organic" are often hard and tasteless. It's seems as if it's getting to the point that we have to raise our own food if we want the good taste and to be healthy.

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  20. Twins Mommy
    I tried to leave a comment on your blog but I don't know if it was accepted. I used to have a Wordpress blog and I think it still thinks I have it.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hi There, First (before I forget) --let me say how much I love your header... The reflections are amazing.

    I too love strawberries --and you are so lucky to have some of your own... We eat strawberries all summer --but I'm sure ours are not as good since we buy them in the grocery store...

    Hugs,
    Betsy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Betsy
      Thanks. Isn't "point and shoot" great! I used to really be "into" photography and I had the great German cameras and my own darkroom. Now, today, my eyesight is way too poor for anything but the point and shoot or my iPhone. But they seem to capture the moment.

      Some stores have an organic source for produce and maybe you are one of the lucky customers.

      Delete
  22. It is awesome when something reminds us so clearly of our past (if it's a good memory like strawberries). :) I used to go w/my friend and her mom and pick them wild, I still remember the smell (yum) and that everything on us turned bright pink. ;)

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    Replies
    1. Rosie
      A neon strawberry plucker. What a precious memory and how fortunate for you to have this friend with such an "organic mom."

      Years ago we used to have a cabin in N/Minnesota on a lake called Duck Lake. (I wonder why everything in my life always connects to a duck?) It was a small lake and I've always been an early riser so I walked around the lake very early and picked strawberries along the way. By the time I got back to the cabin, everyone was up and we had these delicious wild berries on pancakes.

      Delete
  23. Yum. I'm glad the reality of those berries lived up to the ones in your memories.

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    Replies
    1. Susan
      They produced berries all summer and tonight I covered the garden tomatoes and noticed the strawberries are still loaded with blossoms. I found some bright /ripe berries but of course I popped them in my mouth. Haha

      Delete
  24. My mouth is watering as I read that. When we visited our daughter in Switzerland, those Alpine strawberries grew everywhere, covering lawns, out in fields. When we walked along the front lawns where the strawberries crept through the fences, I picked as many as I could reach. Power bursts in a tiny bite! Lucky you!

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    Replies
    1. Susan
      I didn't know your daughter had lived in Switzerland and what a fun visit that must have been. The setting sounds like something out of a fairy tale. I can picture the Swiss scene, the wild berries and tall snow capped mountains. Yay, power bursts. Well stated.

      Delete
  25. Somehow my strawberries never come to fruit :(

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    Replies
    1. Romance Book haven
      Double big bummer. Perhaps they need a wee shot of phosphorus.Also check the ph because berres need soil that is more on the acid side.

      Delete
  26. When I was younger, we used to go wild strawberry picking. One day my sister and I had our kids with us picking strawberries. Her young son went to pick a berry and a small snake grabbed his finger. He said Mom... LOOK!! He thought it was cool. Here the snack was digesting his finger into it's digestive tract. Anyway, she pulled it off and we kept on picking.

    Dennis and I just yesterday stopped by a farmer near us who grows organic. He grows his strawberries in water. NO DIRT

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  27. Terry
    That's a great way to raise kids and acquaint them with nature. Kids are so accepting of things like snakes, etc. if the parent doesn't make a fuss about it. I like that story.
    I remember when I was in school, hydroponics was just kinda becoming popular. That was 60 years ago. We were all pretty fascinated with it.
    Enjoyed our talk this morning.

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  28. Strawberries were the first thing I taught my daughters to raise when they were old enough to begin gardening. Sweet wonderful times.

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    Replies
    1. Xavier
      Lucky girls to know gardening when they are grown. I am sure they have thanked you many times.

      Delete
  29. Dear Manzanita, I remember those strawberries also. AND....I so remember the Bergman movie. There was a scene in it were the two young lovers were wandering, homeless, and they found strawberries in a field and milked a cow and dipped the strawberries in the cream. The photography was so vivid; the color so deep that it imprinted itself on my mind all these years later. Peace.

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  30. Dee
    Boy it really did imprint. I don't recall exact scenes at all but I would like to see it again. For one thing I love b/w movies

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  31. I remember strawberries every April when Poteet, Texas the strawberry capital of Texas has their festival. Did you know Poteet is the birthplace of George Strait?

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