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Strawberry Season !!

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     I actually buy into the "buy local" movement but living in Central Ohio it is impossible, with our climate, to get local grown produce year round. Local for our produce may mean Florida, California, Mexico or even Panama. But when the last week of May or first week of June comes, I start looking local. At least for strawberries. My usual source for strawberries is an Amish family not too far from where I live. I make quite a few trips to their farm for produce each summer. Once when Lily was three I took her with me and she proceeded to run to where some of the Amish children were playing with a wagon. I yelled at her to stop but the lady selling the produce said, let her play with the children, it is okay. So that day I did some extra shopping and loitered a while so Lily could play with her new friends.
     Last week I asked Donna if she would like to take a ride to their farm to see if the strawberries were ready. As we approached the gravel road that leads to the farm we noticed that there was no sign announcing strawberries for sell. It is their custom to put out a sign at the main highway when they have a crop to sell, be it strawberries or potatoes or sweetcorn. I was disappointed to say the least but since we enjoy watching the horses work, we decided to drive on to the farm anyway. We got to their produce stand and the only thing advertised was potatoes, left from last years fall crop. As we drove by the biggest barn we could see a lot of the family putting up hay. We slowed and gawked not so much at the people but at the process. The horses pulling a wagon were standing patiently while young boys fed loose hay down from that wagon to an old bailer being ran by a wide belt attached to an old hit miss engine. Then the heavy bales were pulled off and being stacked high in the barn, bucket brigade style.  We drove on and at the top of the hill where the gardens and berry patch are, we saw four people picking berries. Donna said "stop". When I did, she put the window down and yelled out to the closest lady picker. Will you sell some? Yes, was the answer. So we ended up with four quarts of berries that I needed to decide how to use.
     I first made a short cake and had Strawberry shortcake. The shortcake recipe was from The Better Homes and Garden New Cookbook. Well it was new years ago when we got married. It was a wedding present!

The short cake didn't turn out as good as it has in the past but still was okay. Next I made Strawberry scones. This recipe came from the "Cutco" kitchen recipes. (Cutco is my preferred brand of knives.) I liked the way these scones turned out. It gave me another option for using some of the strawberries. Finally I tried something new to me. A Strawberry Kuchen. Kuchen is the German word for cake. The recipe came from Southern Living magazine, June 2018 addition. I served this with a little whipped cream. Ice cream would be good too. Especially homemade ice cream if you had it.
       The cake stole the strawberry show. It wasn't hard to make and was delicious. I can see this being a regular dessert during the berry season. You really should try this one! And try buying local. Whether you drive to a nearby farm or go to the local farmers market. At the very least you should get some fresh goods. But you may also develop a lasting friendship with someone new!

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