Holy Strawberries!

Went berry-picking with my school garden kiddos, and it was a bunch of fun.  Hot, yes.  Muggy, yes.  But fun nonetheless.

Since my sister & I didn't have any smaller helpers for our row, we cleared a lot more strawberries than the mommies with hungry pickers (two dark red ones in mouth...one green one for basket!)  This is all great and good--until you get home and realize that you have pounds of almost-over-ripe berries to address!  Yikes!

So, last night, after another hot day in the garden (finally, finally addressing the bed where the squash and beans need to be planted), I knew I had to figure out the berry situation.

First:  time to get out the food dryer and do some experimenting.  I am already imagining the granola that will showcase these yummy things.  My dryer is a super cheap impulse buy from Aldi last summer--no fan to circulate the hot air, so it takes longer to dry things.  Somewhere around tray #3, I stop being disciplined about slicing thinly, so who knows how long these berries will take to be fully dry....

And yes, my arm is blurred because I am a WICKED fast berry slicer!

This is my prelude to figuring out a solar oven for use with the kids in the garden.  I want us to learn how the sun's energy can be harnessed by people as well as plants.  However, since I have not done a lot of food drying, I thought that starting with the electric dryer might be a good plan.  Perhaps something less juicy and sweet for our first outside drying-attempt!


Once I filled the dryer trays, I moved on to freezing the berries:  sliced and placed on waxed paper, in layers, on a cookie sheet.  They freeze quickly and are much easier to handle if you arrange them in single layers. 

That took care of the really ripe berries.  I probably have another quart or so of ones that need a bit more ripening time, which can thankfully be put off for a few days. 

My produce-processing, however, wasn't quite done--I also picked peas yesterday.  My poor pea plants are completely bewildered by the hot weather, and the pods themselves remind me of emaciated pregnant women--every last bit of sustenance is going toward those little peas, while the pods are stretched and twisted thinly over them.  No fat, happy pea pods with swollen ankles this year--these are the back-in-a-bikini-next-week expectant supermodels of my spring garden. 

Since I do not anticipate a bumper pea crop this year, thanks to our August-like June weather, I will just fill up a freezer bag or two as I harvest them and maybe try to plant a fall crop.  If we are lucky, we will get to recreate our wonderful meal from last spring:  peas and new potatoes with a bit of butter, salt, and pepper.  Ahhhh


The other basket of goodness from the garden is my first harvest from the garlic beds--the gracefully curling flower heads known as garlic scapes.  Since it they need to be removed in order for the bulb of garlic to continuing developing well underground, it is awfully nice that they are good to eat too.

Most recipes tend toward pesto-esque uses for these little squiggles, although I'm thinking I'll try this delicious recipe too!  One hint is to make sure to cut out the white flower head when you use them, so that the garlic flavor isn't too overpowering.  (Of course, you may be like me and wonder how, exactly, one rates too much with regard to garlic!)