Over the weekend I was on a strawberry mission. You now how it is. All in all, it’s not too difficult to source Monsanto-free meat, raw dairy, cheese, eggs, and vegetables in Connecticut. Where we still fall short is with fruit. We’ll get there, but there’s still some road to travel. For now, we rely on an underground word of mouth community that trades coveted rare sources for unsprayed blueberries, backyard peaches, and even the occasional wild apple tree. Strawberries though? That’s a tough one.
We had a great strawberry patch here for a few years then all of a sudden, it just didn’t come back one spring. There seemed to be nothing wrong with it the year prior, so I chalked it up to not understanding exactly how strawberries grow. I’ll figure it out though when I’m in a stay-put place that begs for long term plantings (I’m over that concept for this property, sad but true). That day cannot come soon enough, because for those few years we did grow strawberries, they thrived and with a few basic precautions, we were able to keep almost all of them for ourselves with little sacrifice to the birds, chipmunks, and slugs. And they sure did fill up a freezer fast which aside from their sweet, jewel-like existence, is the most appealing reason to grown them.
Lately, without a patch of our own, we search and search. This year we hit the jackpot and stumbled upon a small commercial farm that does not spray. There was a lovely young woman behind the counter and I asked if it would be rude of me to buy all of her strawberries. It was still morning, I didn’t want to empty her out for the day, but on the other hand, maybe she’d like that? I was assured that I should go ahead and take all that I wanted. She had a friend sitting at the counter and he clutched the quart he was snacking on close to his chest and told me I couldn’t have those. They were both very sweet. Being a woman who is closer to sixty than twenty, I saw this girl-woman behind the counter as maybe seventeen years old, but she was so friendly and accommodating I thought this must be her family’s farm; she seemed invested. So I asked her. She smiled in that smirk-like kind of way and told me the vegetable and berry farm was hers, that she’d started it a few years ago. My god she was probably thirty. At least I didn’t try to pinch her cheeks.
Her farm store also offers baked goods made right there each morning, all kinds of veg, and local meat, too. Also some dairy, local pottery, soap, and what not. Plus, there is a vineyard and the winery and tasting room is currently under construction and due to open soon.
Before I left she gave me her phone number and told me to call ahead if I wanted another large amount set aside one morning. Today I picked up a couple more flats and with that, I’ve got about thirty quarts of unsprayed local strawberries in the freezer. Around here, that’s what we call better than money in the bank.
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Locals: You’ll want to check out Arrowhead Acres on Rt. 207 in Franklin. Right across from the tractor store. They don’t have acres and acres of strawberries, so do call ahead if you’re looking for quantity.