Last spring my bachelor farmer neighbor down the lane was throwing out great big paper bags full of strawberry roots he had pulled out of his own beds. They were very full, and it had to be done.
I was gifted two bags of mangled dry roots…
I dumped the bags out, cleaned up the roots, soaked them in water for 2 days, and then planted them all. I hoped for the best, but didn't have many expectations…
Fast forward one year later.
To today.
To my own strawberry patch, so full of strawberries it's astounding.
Thank you bachelor farmer neighbor!
In fact, I had to give him some of my plants, as his all died.
As you know, I don't fertilize, save for homemade compost.
(we keep all our veggie scraps every single day and compost)
So, to see hundreds of berries is flooring to me.
So exciting!
They are big and healthy and pretty.
Every leaf you move exposes more and more berries.
And today, all these unripe berries, are now ripe.
With lots more to come.
All from dried thrown out roots.
Who knew?
Every single day for over a week, we have brought in a new batch in a strainer or basket.
I have made all sorts of treats with our berries.
Mostly custard or cream to pour on top.
Berries and cream is sooo easy.
All I do is pour about a cup of heavy cream into my blender, with some sugar to taste.
Heavy cream can be found in the milk refrigerated section of your grocery store.
Pulse your heavy cream in the blender for about 10 seconds.
Magic happens, and it turns from a thick milk like cream into a fluffy cream.
Don't blend for too long or it will get chunky, and you will be on your way to making butter.
For the berries, I toss them with some sugar and lemon juice to taste.
Then layer it all in a jar.
I do this with all sorts of berries throughout the year…
Yumm.
Berries and cream days.
Miam miam.
Hot sun.
Finding a place to keep cool.
Veggies on the way.
Arugula everywhere, and some little radishes.
Mmmm.
Oh and, did I tell you about the garden eaters?
A handful of babies were born in my garden.
Baby bunny tooshies.
They are so cute I could FAINT!
And, they are wreaking havoc in the garden.
They ate a whole 3' x 6' bed of shirley poppies I had been growing (from seed) since November.
I kept them covered until they were about 12 inches tall, but as soon as I uncovered them…
CHOMP.
They even bit off the whole flower on others in other places.
And they and their mom, climb onto rocks to eat out of pots even.
Alas, they are too cute.
I can't bear to harm them.
So, between rabbits and gophers, things are getting hairy out there.
This is what it looks like when gophers did up your garden.
Miles is sniffing around because he can smell them culprits.
Them vermin.
🙂
They make underground tunnels, and sometimes, they make exits and entrances, right in the middle of your poppies.
Then they eat your plant roots.
Even shriubs and trees, and the plants die.
Then the wabbits come by and gobble up the things still standing.
Lovely.
And you want to writhe on the ground screaming and crying.
But, the lil' rascals are so cute, you put up with it.
It's inevitable, it's the price you pay for garden love around here.
When you walk through our yard, you have to be careful, as there are so mnay underground gopher tunnels and dens, your feet will just sink into the earth.
Freaky.
I never saw such a thing until I moved here.
Don't worry, Miles didn't catch the critters.
It used to make me come unglued, losing patches of garden to rabbits and gophers, but now I am used to it.
Carnations mowed down.
A whole patch of wildflowers, gone the next day.
Even rose bark chewed off.
A small price to pay…
For a garden in the desert.
I suppose.
Mister Lovee taunts me in his sarcastic voice and says, but you make it so lovely for them, look at all these flowers you grew for them to eat, awe, they are so cute.
Haha!
I will say this, they are so cute, especially those baby rabbits.
And I feel sorry for them, so they can eat my flowers.
I guess.
🙂
Well, I don't know how it went for you…
But, this was the busiest craziest most unexpected week for me.
Which is why I wasn't here more frequently.
But I have paint back on the palette, and I am looking forward to today.
I hope you had a great week!
T.G.I.F.
Woo hoo!
Much love, Vanessa
That Strawberry tale is pure magic! (and yummy looking they are, too!)
What a bounty of strawberries you have! I’m surprised the birds left you any… did you cover them with netting? My strawberries first got eaten by the birds before they ever ripened, then, the rabbits finished off the plants… great. I feel your pain. Anyway, your garden looks gorgeous!!! Happy weekend! 🙂
Carmen, I didnt net or cover the strawberry patch at all. I thought
about it a ton, but the leaves were so big, they really are hiding the berries
really well. And there are so many out there, that not even a few nibbled
by critters are making much difference. The garden is enclosed to keep
rabbits and such out though. Maybe next year I will have to net it, when
everyone finds out that there are berries ;)))
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 5/3/2013 12:41:44 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
Things have been crazy for me this week too! I am only a week away from going to Hawaii to get married! Yikes. It is very easy and simple though, just the way I like it. Not stressful and not a big to do. Just a few friends on the beach and then a bit of a shindig at the hotel. I am not one of those girls that dreams of marriage her whole life, but Mister B. and I have been together for 10 years so we figured we might as well go for it! I mean is there a better excuse for a paid trip to Hawaii?!
Anyway I didn’t mean to ramble on about me so much, things have just been a bit mad lately. Your garden still looks beautiful even when dug up be cute critters!
your fabulous garden, bunnies and all make me what to sell up and move to the desert i’m still drooling over the mass and i do mean mass of wonderful roses on your post the other day…. how do you every leave i think I would spend my life wandering the garden…..
Wendy, part of the problem is that I spend my days wandering around the
garden, hahahahaaa!! 😉 Its bliss, it is! You need to move here
😉
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 5/3/2013 3:54:19 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
I started strawberries from seed and the seedlings are still quite tiny. I’m hoping that I can just keep them growing and maybe next year have berries. I think I would just sit at the patch and munch all day long (just like the rabbits!), as I love strawberries so much.
love & blessings
~*~
Laura, if you were here, you could have all the berries you want 😉
Luckily they are in the enclosed garden, so no rabbit munching, yay!
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 5/3/2013 5:13:31 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
Married!???????? OMG!!! CONGRATS!!!! Woo hooo!!
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 5/3/2013 2:35:12 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
You lucky girl!!! Ok, except for the critters eating things part….hee…
YUM YUM! We are still getting snow around here…totally crazy.
I’ve been buying the first strawberries from Cali, nothing like yours I’m sure…but still aromatic and delicious…
Take care, dear and lovely Vanessa!
Love and blessings,
– Irina
Yummm!
Your berry plants look great. We just bought berry plants but no planting yet. So this year I will have to go to Dayton Tennessee for berries :). Do you like jam? I make strawberry freezer jam every year. We love it. You crush berries, stir in sugar and then boil some sure jell, pour it over the berries and sugar stir well and freeze (you let the jars stay on the counter for 24 hours before freezing). For years that is the only jam my grand would eat.
The bunnies are so sweet. They ate the first cabbage in our garden. Then we got chicken wire to surround everything.
We have a problem with moles. They have tunnels and holes all over our yard. Critters and varmits everywhere.
😉 Sending you some warm…..
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 5/4/2013 3:44:03 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
Love your play on word!!! You make me berry happy too. I think having had horses, I have a completely different take on the gophers; no broken horsie legs please! When I had my Big House, I would let Mr. Bunny loose in the back yard. I would look out there and see him eating the roses and yell, Mr. Bunny! He would reply, Just trimming Mommy! I do have a weakness for bunnies.
**blows kisses** Deb
Scrumdilicious!! You have the magic garden touch my friend!! I see strawberry smoothies and strawberry jam and strawberry short cake and well…………I am salivating now.
XOXO
Oh those strawberries look divine! One of my favorite things and with cream, oh dear you do tempt. Then those cute, cute bunnies in the garden. You do have a Peter Rabbit sort of garden.
Thanks!
Rotten lil cute wabbits, got into a sacred garden spot last night and
trashed it. Darn. But I do love them so. What a
conundrum!!
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 5/4/2013 9:47:54 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
Strawberry everything for everyone!! 😉 xoxo
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 5/4/2013 9:56:55 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
V
We had trouble with ground squirrels in TX….don’t know if the are the same thing as yours….but dug holes everywhere and ate my plants and bunnies too….then one day poof….gone……..Hubby was out mowing grass one day and he found out why…..a coachwhip snake decided to live under the edge of our storm cellar….he’s not poisonous but he got rid of all the critters one way or another..he either ate them or scared them off….he got to stay…:) Hugs! deb
You work so darn hard on that garden….but, you have such a soft spot for furs of all kinds…..dilemma, indeed!
Those berries look amazing….especially topped with homemade cream….yum!
You have berries! How fabulous! Ours aren’t ready yet, but the white flower of the wild strawberries is starting to appear, and our raspberries, loganberries, blackcurrants and blueberries are hopefully on their way! Been meaning to write for ages to say oh my gosh your garden is looking so wonderful you hard working gardener you! Those pale purple roses! Ours still has daffodils but the magnolia and camellia are in full bloom too as you can see on the blog.
That’s okay…I wasn’t here either…I was in Cambria, Cayucos, and Morro Bay on Saturday and then up to the mountains in Three Rivers this afternoon. And watering, and watering again in between whist I was home…watering at Laurelwood too…and I MUST take some inside photos of the remodel we are almost finished with at Laurelwood. I didn’t even have time to take photos at Laurelwood of the rose garden there…such lush roses this season! And they bloomed and I need to dead-head them so more blooms will keep coming. I can’t wait for my hydrangeas to bloom…they are my very best favorite of flowers…I think the fairies must have had something to do with the scent of the hydrangeas as it is such a heavenly, old-fashioned-school-day-kind-of scent that almost takes me back to my childhood when I took violin lessons in fourth an fifth grade at school…just rambling on here.
But those rabbits! They are so adorable! Yet such little fiends to destroy your lovely flowers…munch! munch! There is a rat that lives behind our shed and it eats my succulents, not fun either, but it IS bad vermin! Nasty bad vermin! Grrrr!!! I need a cat again for mousing!!!
mmmm! These strawberries look so tasty! 🙂
All those delicious berries. It must be beautiful to grow your own food then eat them!!!
Those bunnies are adorable, thought they eat everything in sight. At least you have a good humor about it, not trying to kill them off.
OMG, little Scout rat dog would have crawled right into the den! She would have gone after those buns like it was nobody’s business but hers! I’m so glad we don’t have bun buns. Because I couldn’t bear to see carcasses. I love bunnies and pretty much all rodents. Although, the stray cats who like to go in and out of our garage (we keep a window open for them because we are nuts) do keep control of the rats, and we like that.
poor lizards. That’s all I can say.
Oh Matty and Miles live to hunt the rabbits, but they cant catch
them. Although Miles caught a HUGE one once, and licked it a lot, and
caught worms from it. EWE!!!! Poor Bun. Luckily they have dog
pills that cures them wormses 😉
Blog: http://www.aFancifulTwist.com
Website: http://www.VanessaValencia.com
In a message dated 5/8/2013 10:11:06 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
Oh, this is gorgeous! You SOOO deserve these strawberries.