Ripe strawberries wait on no one. If you’re not wading through the garden beds, plucking the juicy berries someone else will get there first. Be it the birds, the ground squirrels, or the other creatures roaming around, despite the high fences and all other futile measures of strawberry defense systems, I have yet to meet any creature: winged, furred, or diapered that can resist the berry patch. It’s the strawberry’s master plan, after all.
We inherited two raised beds of strawberries and this summer produced a bounty like no other. At first, we merely grazed a good bit, inviting friends and other kiddos down to the patch for an afternoon snack. As the heat increased, so did the yield and then I realized that using my shirt to hold the excess berries was no longer viable, quarts upon quarts were brought to the kitchen. Stainless steel bowls were laden with fruit, and before upset stomachs plagued my house after eating too much raw fruit I rush into action before the berries would spoil. On the Fourth of July, we ate strawberry shortcake. The next day my husband and son sliced pounds and pounds and used the dehydrator to make a family favorite dried fruit snack. Still, we were awash in berries.
Hands and clothes stained pink, I took the next logical step: making and canning jam. Borrowing my mother’s canning supplies, buying sugar, and searching for lids lost among the detritus of the pantry, I spent a long, hot Sunday at the stove. The house filled with the scent of sweetness, a fragrance that speaks of both the earth itself and our hand in cultivating such a generous gift from soil. I’m hardly original in thinking that a garden teaches us how to appreciate our place in the world – a lesson in receiving, nurturing, sharing, and enjoying. This summer, with so much of our attention on the scorching heat and the wild, open spaces near and dear to us being less open and wild, the gift of the strawberries serves as a reminder that when we take care of what’s planted before us, we all get to enjoy the sweet fruits.
Maggie Doherty is the owner of Kalispell Brewing Company on Main Street.