If there is one thing that our short time as allotmenteer’s taught us, it was to embrace the seasons and all that they bring. Its easy to take food for granted, because we have an affordable, continuous supply in our supermarkets. I remember last year when there was a shortage of courgettes in the shops in January, caused what The Guardian called a ‘courgette crisis’. Courgettes are only in season in the UK from late June to October, not having courgettes in January would have been quite normal for our grandparents!
A lot has changed for the better in the last century, but I do sometimes worry what the impact some of those changes are having on our planet.
Strawberry Picking
Over the last few years, we have grown our own strawberries in our back garden. Each year we managed to pick a small bowl each evening from mid June to mid July. Because of our supply of garden strawberries, we haven’t taken the children strawberry picking before.
Fresh strawberries bring back vivid memories of my grandma sat watching Wimbledon with a bowl of strawberries and cream. I remember visiting this strawberry field when I was a little girl, but I think I ate more than I put in the basket back then!
We were lucky that we visited when we did because it was the very last day open for picking. My four had a brilliant time, and their favorite part was having heaps of strawberries sprinkled with sugar for dessert.
Fresh strawberries are delicious and we will miss our garden strawberries next year, but we are determined to make sure we pick our own so we don’t miss out.
Oh they look like they had just the best time! You cannot beat a day of strawberry picking – and you were lucky not to miss it! x
Just picked strawberries are one of the best tastes in the world – we’re incredibly lukcy that my aunt and uncle have a strawberry and soft fruit farm, so I’ve been spoiled for them since childhood!