Garden By The Woods

This long view of our garden by the woods was taken from our highest ground.  Our house would have been built where I am standing to take the picture if money had been limitless.  Two stories on the south side with only one story above ground on the north side was the plan.  The lower level would have been set into the hill with a wall of windows on the exposed side.  That did not happen but working this ground now is as good as it gets.  Remote quiet and distant views make this seemingly wilderness land perfect for the way I want to live.  Pictures show that this is the best tended land on our place.

There is a second ridge behind the one that can be seen.  It is huge and separates the Susquehanna river and Unadilla river watersheds.  The geographic impact on us is the miles of frost rivers that pour down these hills and sweep across our gardens.  I could not have put the garden near the house in a colder spot if that had been my goal.  As it is the cold flow sometimes stays just above this garden when it hits the lower one with full force.

The visible ridge is part of several square wooded miles crossed only by one seasonal road.  We have heard the old timers talk about interactions with bears, wildcats and wolves.  In my younger days I had the land owner's permission to walk his land to the top of the ridge.  Age and a small measure of common sense now keep me closer to home.  On many days it feels like coyotes are close at hand watching me.  So far they have kept their distance.

The original purpose of opening this garden land was to provide ground that had not been contaminated by garlic diseases.  Potatoes are the first crop planted in newly cleared meadow ground.  Next year garlic will be planted where the two rows of potatoes now grow.  Potatoes will then be sown where the pasture grasses now reign.  That area will be cleared of grasses and stones as time allows.  A quick count shows that there will be three more beds where garlic has never before  grown.  If I am still here then, the garlic will of necessity return to ground previously used to grow it.  Considering the elapsed time interval and the near disease free state of our garlic there should be no major problem.

The possible passing of the man that had operated a pick your own strawberry farm prompted me to plant strawberries in larger numbers here.  Previously we had grown only enough plants to supply fresh fruit for our cereal.  Two rows of purchased plants were formed.  New plants from runners were carefully set in four additional rows.  There was to be a one foot wide clear path down the center.  The berries had different ideas and we did it their way.  This year runner plants will be taken to start a new bed.  We hope to see three years of decent harvests from the original planting.  This is a learning experience for us since we know nothing about the proper cultivation of strawberry plants.  We do intend to move new plants into ground that has not previously grown strawberries.

This is the current state of our plants.  Filtered shade created by the nearby trees delayed the active growth of our plants.  Hot dry weather has kept the crop in a holding pattern.  We picked and processed eight quarts of berries from another location.  They were closed for three days to allow their plants time to recover from the ravages of hot dry picking.  We now have about one half of a years supply of jam in the freezer and we are counting on our own fruit to supply the other half.  The going is shaky and slow.  Yesterday's harvest yielded only two more jars of jam.  We clearly have enough berries.  We have little control over the weather and its impact on our crop.  Yesterday I trucked ten gallons of water for these plants.  Hand watering with a sprinkling can took considerable time and effort but likely fell far short of what the plants need.  Rain is in the forecast for the next several days.  My winters supply of jam depends on some real rain.

Fresh Strawberries In 90 Days

In his essay titled Pepacton : A Summer Voyage, John Burroughs described his June float down a section of the East Branch of the Delaware River.  Since many of my younger days were spent in a boat drifting with the current on the Susquehanna or Unadilla Rivers, it seemed that he and I enjoyed a common experience.  Many times I read his words and connected them to my adventures. Two of his observations are easily recalled from memory.  One involves his boat silently floating toward two young women that were wading in the shallows unaware of his approach.  They needed to raise their skirts above the level of the water.  Burroughs' words described his delight with what he saw. 

He also described the aroma of ripe wild strawberries that drifted from the fields across the river.  He went ashore and filled his pail with tasty berries.  Having happened upon wild strawberries many times in my youth, the memory of the taste of a wild strawberry is easily recalled.  No king has ever tasted anything better than a wild strawberry warmed by the sunlight.

A recent trip to the grocery store included a display of fresh Florida strawberries.  They were perfectly shaped huge dark red berries.  No blemish could be found.  I was tempted to buy a container but did not when I recalled that these berries bred for shipment are nearly tasteless.  The berries that we grow continue to ripen after they are picked and must be quickly eaten or processed.  Their outstanding feature is flavor.

The fruit in the photo came from our freezer.  We both grow our own berries and visit a pick your own business.  In addition to eating freshly picked berries, we make freezer jam and freeze some sliced fruit.  Frozen fresh berries are a treat and we usually eat them only on special occasions.  Since this season's crop is close at hand, we now must eat this treasure on ordinary days.  We must empty the freezer ahead of the arrival of the new harvest.

The freezer jam will likely last until the new is made.  We recognize the truly special start to each new day that begins with our own strawberry jam spread on toast.  When we were younger much of our garden harvest went into the freezer.  We can no longer do all that was accomplished years ago but the frozen strawberries and jam remain.

Strawberry Season

There is nothing better than the taste of a freshly picked ripe strawberry.  These berries were taken from the field only two hours ago but they have continued to ripen since picked and will soon be past.  Fruit grown for commercial distribution has been bred to produce a harder more stable berry.  Those have also lost much of their flavor.  The named variety of these berries is a trade secret.  Their shelf life is measured in minutes but their flavor exceeds any attempt to describe it.

A little commercial never hurts.  Heller's were selling strawberries in this area when I first met Becky fifty plus years ago.  In that time they have mastered the art of growing this berry.  Their fields are clean and well tended.  Only nine dollars were necessary to make this basket of fruit mine.  I did have to pick them myself.

Age has mandated adjustments to how the berries are picked.  Daily medicine has made it impossible for me to do anything while standing with head down near my knees.  If I tried to do that, face down on the ground would be the result when I straightened up so I work while kneeling.  Becky can no longer kneel so she works bent over from a standing position.  Every time that I looked up today she was upright, arching her back to the rear.  I never expected that with all of those breaks her basket would fill faster than mine but it did.

No cook freezer jam preserves the incredible fresh taste of strawberries.  We now have 26 containers filled with this treat.  My day always begins with home grown herbal tea and toasted cracked wheat bread from a local bakery.  When the jam on the toast is from our freezer the day is off to a great start.

We do have two dozen of our own plants.  That number of plants supplies enough fruit for breakfast or a special dessert.  Strawberry season here lasts for only two weeks.  We treasure these days and look forward to berries or jam fresh from the freezer.  Freshly frozen berries are almost as tasty as those straight from the garden.