April 28 – “Strawberries”

The other day Chris and April and Cailyn partook of one of those odd little day trip possibilities that seem to abound near here.  This one was over in Texas, so there was a journey to be made, but it sounded intriguing to all concerned.  Even Cailyn seemed excited to be going.  I can’t remember the name of the place, but it was some kind of working farm up north of Alvin somewhere.  Seems they have a huge strawberry patch that you can walk through and pick your own strawberries.  I don’t suppose you can get much fresher than that.  It sounded like a pretty interesting setup.  You buy one of their buckets for a dollar and then go fill it up.  When you return to the main point of entry, they weigh your bucket and charge you two dollars a pound.  I don’t know if that’s a good price or not, but Chris seemed pleased enough. 

So they purchased their buckets and listened to the admonitions of the security guard.  I don’t know who she was, but before they could enter the strawberry patch they had to listen to the rules about what to pick and what to leave alone.  No picking flowers was the one that probably affected our girls the most.  Picking flowers is one of Cailyn’s “favoritest” things in the world to do.  She behaved admirably, of course.  Except maybe when there was a bug on one of her strawberries.  She certainly wanted no part of that.  I’m sure the country girl in Chris rose to the surface rapidly.  Not that she was raised on a farm per se, but when she was growing up Bay City wasn’t quite the booming metropolis it has become today.  All the stories of her grandfather’s farm and raiding the bee hives and walking ten miles to school uphill barefooted must have flooded her mind.  And then they stopped at the country store where a farmer’s market was set up.  It was full of all kinds of fresh vegetables.  That’s all she needed for the trip to be a rousing success.  She loaded up a big paper bag with lettuce and tomatoes and new potatoes (as opposed to old potatoes?  I never have understood that particular variety) and fresh beans.  All that, along with her bucket of strawberries came to less than ten dollars.  Not bad at all.  Sure beats WalMart’s produce section.

Chris’ actual take on the whole experience?  She is already planning regular trips out there for fresh vegetables.  And she wants to go earlier in the strawberry season so they can fill up a few buckets and come home and make some strawberry jam to put up.  That will definitely be worth the trip.  I might even go with that purpose in mind.

Psalms 89:5 says, “The heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones.”

Father, thank you for the miracle that occurs every time one of those fruits and vegetables of yours reaches ripe status and we can consume it for nourishment.  Amazing.  Amen.