Berry-Licious

Our strawberries are nearly done for the year, but just as they have been waning, the red raspberries are starting to provide for us.  As I was picking some of the first new raspberries I was thinking how amazing our Creator is to provide all these different fruits and veggies that produce at different times throughout the year.  If we had to rely on our own gardens for all our food and not the local super market we would be very grateful for this time difference.  If everything was ready on the same day, which might seem easier it could be overwhelming, how would we harvest it all, how would we store it up for the whole year?

Not all perfect looking, but perfect tasting strawberries!

Raspberry first pickings

It took a lot of work to redo the terracing and move all the dirt and plants for our strawberry and raspberry beds bed it was worth it after tasting the strawberries which were very good this year and they are so sweet, much better than the super market variety.  It just doesn’t compare.  Shannon was reading about the way commercial strawberries are grown and processed before they reach the shelf. First a type of strawberry is used that grows large and ships well. This multi-million dollar business relies mainly on clones from the same line which is very susceptible to disease. The fields that the berries are grown in require huge amounts of chemicals to keep clear of weeds, deter/kill pests and disease and to fertilize the strawberry plant which is discarded after one season.  The result in the soil is sterilization which kills the soil and its inhabitants and we are purchasing a strawberry grown on chemicals, not nutrients.  It is getting as bad as meat! Some of the raspberry plants are yellowing though, we will need to look into the issue.

Strawberry / Raspberry beds

Here is some fresh lettuce Shannon picked, another blessing.  She found that after picking it, if she put it into cold water right away it stayed crisp longer in the fridge and any worms drowned.  Once it had chilled in the water (pink bowl below) she puts it in her salad spinner to remove excess water and any sand.  Then just put it in a container and keep it in the fridge, until the next salad that is.

Fresh Lettuce!