Stolen Time
It’s the best job.
Sitting cross legged in the dirt, head down, peering between the leaves, looking for flashes of red.
Nothing but me and the chooks.
It’s five minutes of breathing space.
Stolen time in the strawberry patch.
I eat as many as I like, there are so many that the ones I eat will not be missed.
I wonder, as I do every year, why on earth I eat the tasteless strawberries we buy from the shops.
But I know why.
I am impatient.
I can not wait, and hope, and water, and drip stinky did fish water on my shoes, and wait, and hope, and fight off the snails and slugs, and hope, and wait.
I can not wait all year for the few weeks when the strawberries are ripe.
It seems ridiculous now. Now that there are more ripe strawberries than I ever have time to pick, let alone eat.
It seems preposterous that I am so impatient, that I can not wait for these glorious few weeks that make me realise how lucky we are.
Wow that’s fantastic, we don’t have a lot of luck with strawberries, how many plants do you have (or space). Maybe we just need more.
Don’t ask me what we do to get so many… I have no idea, it’s just pure luck!
We do have quite a BIG strawberry bed – probably around 1.5 metres by almost a metre. We started out with about 8 or so plants of various varieties and they have been in that same spot for about 7 years. After about 3 years the runners had gone mad and filled the whole space and about a year after that we started getting loads and loads of fruit.
I think one key is lots of water… and after that I have no idea as we don’t do any of the things the books tell you to do! LOL
How gorgeous! Having strawberry patch envy x
Yum! We have one or two left in our little patch My son just loves it!
And happy day after Thanksgiving!
I have a favor to ask! I’m hearing crickets right now for my Holiday Hop (could be the time of year!). I need sponsors for my Mom Lit Holiday Hop that starts on Saturday! (Wish I could afford to pay you!) I have a button to put up on your blog if you choose to be a sponsor. I would link back to you in the Holiday Hop… and on the website, too, plus your blog button can go on the website. Let me know by leaving a comment on my blog! I’m also available if you ever need a return sponsor! Here is the page for the holiday hop, and the code for the button is there: http://www.momswhowriteandblog.com/momlitholidayhop.html.
Every year I am jealous of your strawberry haul, we are lucky to get one or two edible ones from our pathetic crop! Luckily we have the mulberries to make up for it :)
If it makes you feel better, we planted two mulberry trees the spring after we moved here… so they have been in the ground for 8 years… and they are not even up to my shoulders and give us a pathetic handful of berries each year.
Would gladly trade a bucket of strawberries for mulberries!
BEAUTIFUL post Kate. I love the idea of ‘stolen time’.
Enjoy those strawberries. I dream of the day I grow enough strawberries to have a freezer stash that lasts for months. Frozen strawberries and frozen banana slices are one of my fav treats. x t.
I think we’d have to plant nothing but strawberries to get enough for the freezer… as well as all the cooking, jamming and eating straight from the patch that we do!
Though I am just finishing up the stash of frozen apples, and am so pleased I spent the time cooking them and freezing them. And when our pantry is finished we’ll have a new upright freezer… so maybe I might see if I can freezer at least a couple of containers full!
wow!!! YUMMMO!! I have planted a few but I am hopefully expecting just one…. but your batch…. expert you are! x
There is nothing better than eating a strawberry straight from the bush, just a little bit warm from the sun, especially if you get to eat it alone! Enjoy.