[CSA Update] Welcome to week 16

Strawberries are the stars in the farm shares this week. The start of summer is always tied to those first ripe berries when they show color, and the little hands find the first snacks on the plants.

I can't tell you why they are called strawberries or where that name came from - I couldn't get an answer from my grandfather as a kid either. He thought they should have been called strewn berries or runner berries - the plants come back every year and send out shoots, or runners, to start new plants.

I encourage folks to know their food and know their farmer - and strawberries are a great example of why that is a direct benefit to you. Buying fruit that only a couple of people have handled, picked ripe, and only a quick trip home (no guilt if you snack the entire way home) - it's a good and safe option.

Strawberries are also going to be in short supply this year. Since the US imports a good portion of fresh food and weather patterns are all dumping extra rain, many crops are struggling with flavor and diseases worldwide. We are lucky to have suitable varieties planted that are producing right here.

Strawberry plants tend to be productive for 2 to 5 years, and I've found that in the first year you sacrifice a harvest so that later years have better yields. I walk the fields on a first-year planting and pinch off the flowers. And after 5 years, we dig up the area and start all over.

Strawberry season in Connecticut is very short, typically less than 3 weeks from beginning to end. Just about when you are sick of making jam, pies, and freezing the extras - the local berries are gone. Enjoy the flavor and the fun of eating seasonally with your farm share.