Fee, Fie, Foe Friday: It Was a Berry Short Season

All the Strawberry Jam with Vanilla and Lavender we'll get this year.

This is not actually a rant, just a complaint. And no recipe either. I know I have no control over the weather. Still, Momma Nature is a rough woman to contend with. Finally I have a good crop of strawberries and then we get about 7 inches of rain in less than a week. The result is mushy, moldy berries on the plants. Having already picked about 4 or 5 pounds, I can't say that we got none. We did get plenty to eat plain as fruit, and some berries made it into a strawberry tart, but there really wasn't enough to make as much jam as we'd like, or any to freeze. All the water, while its good for the tomato crop and most of the other plants in the vegetable garden, it has pretty much ruined any plans I had  for more berries. While these are everbearing strawberry plants, the largest batch comes in early June. So we're pretty much done.


It was a berry short season. Pun intended. What I've got to show for it is four really small jars of strawberry jam with vanilla and lavender. Was planning at least double that. If not triple. I won't post the recipe until I get to actually taste the jam, so don't ask. Cause who knows if it will pass the taste test? It's a mish mash of several recipes I found online, and while often that works, occasionally it doesn't. It may be too sweet for my taste; I like to taste more fruit than sugar. We'll see.


All I can say is gather ye strawberries while ye may...or something along those lines. Life is a berry short season.

Can We Have a Growing Season Do-Over, Please?

Have you ever procrastinated on a job that you hoped would just disappear if you ignored it? I have, and it occasionally works. It’s time to pull down what remains of the vegetable garden, and frankly, my heart is not in it. I want a growing season do-over. I have trouble getting excited over pumpkin this, and cider that when I didn’t even get a real summer harvest, let alone fall stuff.

Granted, there is really nothing left to pull down. The mid summer drought and the torrential rains at the end of the season pretty much wiped out most of the tomato crop, the squash, the sage and both the pole beans and bush beans. No late broccoli this year or Brussels sprouts. Just skeletal remains on trellises and stakes. The removal job should be easy, but it makes me so sad thinking about it that I just can’t do it. I want to wake up tomorrow and it’ll all be there waving in its leafy July glory. Feeling gypped this year. I wanted a pantry full of jars of beans, beets, and tomatoes.

We have nothing to complain about, though, in the grand scheme. So many farms here in Pennsylvania, and neighboring New York and New Jersey were virtually destroyed by the flooding. My friend Kasha’s family farm in NY was under water for weeks. My table will be a bit shortchanged, but my livelihood is intact. Not a disaster here, but reminds me to be grateful for what is instead of fretting over what was. Fact is, it IS a cycle, and it can be vicious at times.

In spite of my gloom, there are some things growing. Hot peppers, bell peppers, and basil still survive and produce, and celeriac is still in the ground. Swiss chard and scallions are tall and green. Picked the last few brave tomatoes today to ripen in the house. The last taste of summer will be good. Will post the results here soon, if the recipes are blog-worthy.

Mother Nature will force my hand with a frost in a week or two, tops. No slacking then. Down and away it’ll all go. Bean poles in the shed and the composters will be bursting full. I’ll be furiously canning the last of the peppers, and blanching and freezing chard. By the time the first snow comes, with any luck, after the holidays (especially since I work in retail), the first seed catalogs will arrive, and with them, a chance to get it all right next season. Gee, I feel better already. Nothing like a good rant.