@friendlymoose photo contestThe theme "Fresh" made me think of our strawberries. Also completely fresh! Last year, due to a huge snail plague, our strawberries had come to nothing. And on top of that, we didn't have the strawberry plants we wanted, they did give some strawberries, but certainly not as big as you see them in the store. And we kept thinking, that must be something we can find too. As a result, we did a good search on the internet, compared the different types of strawberries, and finally made our choice of which plants we wanted. We ordered them, and they overwintered the entire winter in a large container. This spring we put them in the strawberry containers, hung off the ground so that snails have less chance of getting to them. And then we had to wait and see ... was this indeed the type of strawberry we hoped it would be. And so far I have to say, YES ... it's great! The plants start forming fruit quite early, and the strawberries they produce are nice and big, they are nice and red, they are nice and juicy, they taste delicious and the plants are productive. Of course we don't know yet whether they will actually continue to bear fruit all summer long, the real summer has yet to begin! But so far, so good! If that last promise is also fulfilled, we can continue to enjoy fresh strawberries until about November! So now I am enjoying the fresh strawberries that I can pick every day. It is not a lot yet, but enough to make me feel completely happy again. And I see enough new fruits in the making to make me completely happy.
There is something magical about strawberries. Maybe it is because in my youth strawberries with sugar (and sometimes a dollop of whipped cream) were the epitome of summer luxury. But it could also be because they smell so good, are so juicy, and taste so good. I can enjoy that sweet, fresh-tart juice as soon as you bite into one of those strawberries. And of course strawberries are the perfect example of 'fresh' at the moment. Really fresh. Straight from the plant, but unfortunately not warm from the sun. It has completely failed us again this week.
Because I still wanted to make an entry for this fresh Friendlymoose photo contest, I quickly grabbed my phone. I don't expect to win, that's not always what it's about. I just wanted to participate to support the photo contest. And since I'm also busy with other activities, completely separate from Hive, but activities that have to provide me with an income, I don't have styled food photos with all the bells and whistles that would certainly create much more atmosphere. I just kept it with our strawberries as they are: still fresh on the plant, with all the natural junk, the half-eaten leaves of the plant, the ugly specially designed black strawberry punnet in full view. It can't get any fresher! I did quickly photograph a leaf of the plant with a shiny drop in the middle. There's always something about that...
I'll say it right away, photographically these are no works of art, let me be honest. But these photos do tell something! They tell how happy I am with our strawberries. They also tell what the meaning of fresh feels like to me: walking outside and picking a fresh red strawberry, a little imperfect, and therefore real. And how we try to get those fresh red wonder candies every year.
When we can, we both pick one at the same time, and we often look at each other to think back to the dogs that have passed away. Lex and Rowan, Myla and Lana. When there were still four of them, we had a box with a 'strawberry tree'. A special kind of strawberry plant that grew upwards like a tree. And that also gave delicious strawberries, so delicious that we couldn't pick any more. Our dogs stood around that box and ate the strawberries green. Now we only have Skipper left and he leaves the strawberries alone so far. But we often think back to the time when we had strawberries, but couldn't pick any. Now we pick them together as soon as we can. And we always say to each other: "These are really tastier than the ones from the store, aren't they?"
Strawberries from your own garden simply taste different. Not necessarily better, well, yes ... they are better! But above all, they are more honest, without any pesticides, no poison on our strawberries, unlike the store-bought ones. And fresher.
And that's actually all I wanted to say.
