|
|
|
|
|
News and Views:
|
|
Celebrating Strawberries
Weed It and Reap
|
|
Celebrating Strawberries
|
When I was about eight years old, my grandmother invited me to go strawberry picking with her. Grandpa drove us to a farm where pickers in big straw hats were already on their hands and knees, working their way down the rows. I already knew I should pick only the ripe berries, but Grandma had one more rule: No eating until we paid for the berries. Not even one.
I remember that morning with such clarity. I can feel the hot sun on my back and smell the ripe berries as we gradually filled our flats. Not until we lugged the heavy flats to the cash register, weighed our berries, and paid for them did either of us eat a single berry. On the drive home, we slowly ate berries from one of the wooden quart containers, and they were some of the best berries of my life. I don’t remember the rest of the day, but I’m sure Grandma spent it making jam.
If you live near a pick-your-own strawberry patch, you can get enough ripe berries in one session to make jam, freeze extras for later use, and totally gorge yourself (after you’ve paid, of course). Is it worth devoting a day or two of the summer entirely to strawberries? Of course it is!
If you go to the search function here on www.digitalhearth.com and type in "strawberry," you will come up with enough recipes to satisfy the most serious strawberry fanatic. Here are a couple of favorites.
|
Strawberry Trifle
|
|
You can also add a few blueberries, if you have them, for extra color and taste (and a red-white-and-blue color scheme).
|
4 cups strawberries, halved and lightly sugared
2 bananas, sliced
1 angel food cake
2 cups whipping cream
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
In the bottom of your prettiest glass bowl, place half of the strawberries. Tear the angel food cake into bite-size pieces and layer them on top of the berries. Distribute the banana slices on top of the cake pieces. Whip the cream until soft peaks form, beat in the confectioners sugar, and add the vanilla. Beat until peaks hold their shape. Spread about two-thirds of the cream over the bananas. Top with the rest of the strawberries and garnish with dollops of the remaining whipped cream
|
| Strawberry Punch |
| For a graduation party, wedding reception, or just any gathering special enough to get out the punch bowl, this concoction is sure to please. Double or triple as needed. |
5 cups strawberries, hulled
1/2 cup sugar
3 cups orange juice, chilled
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice, chilled
1-1/2 quarts ginger ale, chilled
Mash 4 cups of the berries with the sugar and set aside for one hour. Force mashed berries through a strainer into a chilled punch bowl. Add orange juice, lemon juice, and ginger ale. Slice remaining 1 cup berries and float the slices on top of the punch.
Tip: To make a frozen ice ring that will keep the punch cold but not dilute it, make one batch of the punch ahead, omitting the ginger ale, and freeze the mixture in a ring mold. You can freeze a few slices of lemon and orange in the mold, or add a few whole berries.
|
Weed It and Reap
|
| For gardeners, June is the most critical month when it comes to weed control. Weeds are vigorous plants by definition. Most of them are annuals, and their one goal is to live long enough to set seed for next year. If you let them do this, you lose the battle. The weeds will smother your garden this year, and their seeds will create a monster crop for next year.
Here are a few strategies for successful weed control. Don’t put this job off until July. June is bustin’ out all over, especially weeds.
 * Buy bales of straw or hay, take them apart flake by flake (do not fluff up the flakes), and lay them down as you would tiles. Cover every inch of your garden except for the seeded rows and plants. Few weeds will be able to come up through the densely matted hay; if they do, just pile on more hay. After your harvest in the fall, rake all the hay into your compost pile.
* Sharpen your hoe so that you can simply scrape it across the surface of the soil, decapitating any weed seedlings. You don’t really have to pull most weeds — you just have to stop them from growing.
* Anchor strips of black plastic over your rows and between plants to suffocate the weed seedlings. Hold the plastic down with rocks or planks. This is not an esthetic success, but it works.
* Plant a cover crop of annual rye grass in the rows, and keep it mowed. Annual rye grows fast enough to outwit most weeds, and the regular mowing will keep any survivor weeds from going to seed. You can till the rye under in the fall.
* Make a resolution to spend a few minutes each day weeding. This doesn’t sound like it would amount to much, but it’s amazing how much you can accomplish in 15 minutes. Even the busiest person among us surely has 15 minutes a day for his or her garden in June. Right?
|
|
Back to Top
|
|
