This is a bad news/good news message. The bad news is that our beloved strawberries couldn't withstand all of the challenges of the past nine months. While we have mostly forgotten about the extreme drought and heat of late fall, the Arctic temperatures in December, and the hurricane force winds of early spring, the strawberries have held that memory and couldn't overcome all of these obstacles. Best I can remember, it's the first time we have had a total loss of the strawberry crop since starting our CSA. I hope you can find some berries from other local growers! We're not deterred and are making plans to plant berries in the fall for spring 2024.
-The sorry looking strawberry field of 2023
The good news is that sneaking up behind the failed strawberry crop will be tomatoes. Of course, while they are also red in color, they are no substitute for strawberries. But, perhaps they can rise to the occasion should you be wanting fried green tomatoes or (soon) a slice of tomato on your sandwich.
At any rate, we couldn't be more disappointed about the strawberries or more excited to soon be offering tomatoes.
I suppose there are life lessons here, as in so much related to farming.
One lesson we have learned is that there is pretty much always something to be grateful for, and a good time to say to each of you how grateful we are to have you in our CSA and hope that you are enjoying the goodness of our gardens.
