Last spring my bachelor farmer neighbor down the lane was throwing out great big paper bags full of strawberry roots he had pulled out of his own beds. They were very full, and it had to be done.
I was gifted two bags of mangled dry roots...
I dumped the bags out, cleaned up the roots, soaked them in water for 2 days, and then planted them all. I hoped for the best, but didn't have many expectations...
Fast forward one year later.
To today.
To my own strawberry patch, so full of strawberries it's astounding.
Thank you bachelor farmer neighbor!
In fact, I had to give him some of my plants, as his all died.
As you know, I don't fertilize, save for homemade compost.
(we keep all our veggie scraps every single day and compost)
So, to see hundreds of berries is flooring to me.
So exciting!
They are big and healthy and pretty.
Every leaf you move exposes more and more berries.
And today, all these unripe berries, are now ripe.
With lots more to come.
All from dried thrown out roots.
Who knew?
Every single day for over a week, we have brought in a new batch in a strainer or basket.
I have made all sorts of treats with our berries.
Mostly custard or cream to pour on top.
Berries and cream is sooo easy.
All I do is pour about a cup of heavy cream into my blender, with some sugar to taste.
Heavy cream can be found in the milk refrigerated section of your grocery store.
Pulse your heavy cream in the blender for about 10 seconds.
Magic happens, and it turns from a thick milk like cream into a fluffy cream.
Don't blend for too long or it will get chunky, and you will be on your way to making butter.
For the berries, I toss them with some sugar and lemon juice to taste.
Then layer it all in a jar.
I do this with all sorts of berries throughout the year...
Yumm.
Berries and cream days.
Miam miam.
Hot sun.
Finding a place to keep cool.
Veggies on the way.
Arugula everywhere, and some little radishes.
Mmmm.
Oh and, did I tell you about the garden eaters?
A handful of babies were born in my garden.
Baby bunny tooshies.
They are so cute I could FAINT!
And, they are wreaking havoc in the garden.
They ate a whole 3' x 6' bed of shirley poppies I had been growing (from seed) since November.
I kept them covered until they were about 12 inches tall, but as soon as I uncovered them...
CHOMP.
They even bit off the whole flower on others in other places.
And they and their mom, climb onto rocks to eat out of pots even.
Alas, they are too cute.
I can't bear to harm them.
So, between rabbits and gophers, things are getting hairy out there.
This is what it looks like when gophers did up your garden.
Miles is sniffing around because he can smell them culprits.
Them vermin.
:)
They make underground tunnels, and sometimes, they make exits and entrances, right in the middle of your poppies.
Then they eat your plant roots.
Even shriubs and trees, and the plants die.
Then the wabbits come by and gobble up the things still standing.
Lovely.
And you want to writhe on the ground screaming and crying.
But, the lil' rascals are so cute, you put up with it.
It's inevitable, it's the price you pay for garden love around here.
When you walk through our yard, you have to be careful, as there are so mnay underground gopher tunnels and dens, your feet will just sink into the earth.
Freaky.
I never saw such a thing until I moved here.
Don't worry, Miles didn't catch the critters.
It used to make me come unglued, losing patches of garden to rabbits and gophers, but now I am used to it.
Carnations mowed down.
A whole patch of wildflowers, gone the next day.
Even rose bark chewed off.
A small price to pay...
For a garden in the desert.
I suppose.
Mister Lovee taunts me in his sarcastic voice and says, but you make it so lovely for them, look at all these flowers you grew for them to eat, awe, they are so cute.
Haha!
I will say this, they are so cute, especially those baby rabbits.
And I feel sorry for them, so they can eat my flowers.
I guess.
:)
Well, I don't know how it went for you...
But, this was the busiest craziest most unexpected week for me.
Which is why I wasn't here more frequently.
But I have paint back on the palette, and I am looking forward to today.
I hope you had a great week!
T.G.I.F.
Woo hoo!
Much love, Vanessa