Strawberries!

What's that in the "Creepy!" bowl??



Our first picking of strawberries for the year! 23 lovely little berries, or 7.2 oz of strawberry goodness.



Both the strawberry plants and the berries themselves are much happier this year with our new protective covering on our small strawberry bed. We'd originally planned to yank out the plants in mid summer and use the space for a fall crop of a different foodstuff instead, but we've changed our minds after seeing how the plants are thriving without chipmunks and squirrels busting in and digging among their roots. And I believe we haven't lost a single berry yet to the vermin. My new bed cover is fabulous! Instead of ripping the plants out, I think I'll encourage the new runners to plant and remove the old crowns as they become less productive. The variety of strawberries I am growing produces less runners than most, but does usually put out an average of one runner for every other plant each year.

I survived inventory (yay!), but did have a run in with the police on the way. Apparently, two very tired and cranky girls in a red Kia pulling into the employee parking lot at a health food store at 1:45 AM are suspicious characters, and obviously there to loot and pillage, not there to count an inventory of 5 million tiny items and record their findings. We received the full flashlight in the eyeballs and "what are you doing here?" queries. Once the policeman realized we weren't a threat he toddled off into the bushes, causing my coworker and I to bust up laughing...apparently our arrival interrupted his potty break...