Strawberries!

Due to graduation season in my neighborhood, it's been ten days since my last blog update and the strawberries have gone crazy. I love strawberries so much that I wish I could write poetry about their perfection. Instead, I guess I'll just keep eating them.

My strawberry bed is a 4x8 foot raised bed. I think we planted it about three years ago. It's always provided us with a steady supply of berries for our breakfast cereal, but when I wanted to make strawberry jam or freeze berries for the winter, we went to the u-pick farm nearby.

This year it's different. I pick strawberries twice a day and I half fill a gallon bucket with beautiful, perfect berries. What's the difference between this year and last year? Honeybees and sunshine. My two top bar hives of bees have been very busy and there is no doubt in my mind that this is making a huge difference. But I can't forget that we had three huge spruce trees removed in March, and the whole farm receives more sunlight.

If you garden, I urge you to consider backyard bees. It's a moderate investment for a wonderful return, and just having them in the farm lends an aura of peacefulness. I don't want to get all preachy about this, but it's our job to make sure the bees survive. And the strawberries appreciate it, too.