Last Updated on August 4, 2023 by Michelle
Fresh-picked strawberries are one of the best joys of summer.
Three summers ago we planted our first strawberry plants. They were pathetic, but they survived. Then we moved them. Two times. Two autumns in a row.
Scroll right to the bottom, btw, for 4 strawberry recipes you’ll love.
And, if you’re a strawberry fanatic, read my 5 Tips for Growing Your Own Strawberries and, by all means, check out this amazing recipe for strawberry kombucha before you go any further.
So, as I was saying… we grow our own strawberries. Our first spring we didn’t need a fence, we just used a few natural deterrents for the deer. But that was pre-chicken. Once we added free-ranging chicken and ducks to the farm, a true barrier was needed. It was nothing fancy, but only took a few evenings to erect. Our pallet and metal-pole barrier served us well.
But my farmer wanted a true post-and-beam fence. Since she’s been saving for just such a thing for so many years, she did it the way she wanted.
But for now, our newly transplanted berry plants have some more growing to do. So when the urge hit to make some strawberry desserts and jams, we hopped in the car and enjoyed a beautiful blue-sky drive. Eager for fresh-picked strawberries. One was eager to make fresh, from-scratch strawberry pie the way her grandma did.
My adult and teen daughters piled out of the minivan at a local pick-your-own fruit farm with boxes and tin buckets in hand, as excited as they were every June, long ago. They’ve equated this month with strawberry picking for longer than they each can remember. Almost every June had one day set aside in that wonderful month–a month of summer joys before summer heat and humidity set in–to spend with red stained fingers, cheeks, and shirts, traversing among beautiful lush green rows that were always longer than their little Little Mermaid flip flops could carry them.
Our morning had plenty of reminders for this momma of those joyous days of their youth.
The beautiful green lines of mounds were polka dotted here and there with moms hunkered down and little ones skipping among the tall rows with red lusciousness in their crimson dyed hands.
When she overheard a family of middle schoolers complaining of boredom, one daughter lamented the thought that any child of any age could possibly not find the utmost joy in a strawberry patch. Because she herself had always adored picking the warm redness and savoring the scarlet sweetness until her stomach could handle no more.
We surrounded ourselves with those beautiful fresh-picked strawberries until we were content. Content with time under the azul canopy. Content with time among the long, lushly cultivated rows of pinnate-veined beauty. Content with time spent together, remembering the strawberry-coated stories of yesteryears.
Like the year Mom forgot to bring shoes for one toddler daughter, whose toes were red-under-the-nails discolored for weeks afterward, or the year they sat outside the grocery store, in the shade, with the two large boxes of berries between them, to keep the fruit cool while Mom shopped for pectin, sugar, and lemon juice. (Ever since, I’ve always made sure that the pantry had the pie and jam necessities before loading up the car with tender, just-picked berries.)
As the wonderful morning turned to a sticky, messy, jam-making afternoon, we decided to do much more than fill jelly jars for the root cellar and freezer.
In the early evening hours, at the end of a hard but lucrative day, I felt a little sick from the three-plus pounds of strawberries I must have eaten. But I felt oh-so blessed. There my daughters were, rolling the dough on the pie board their great grandmother had given their grandmother as a wedding present, using their great grandmother’s recipe for the crust, and referring to the worn 3×5 card showcasing their Great Aunt Jeanette’s handwriting for “Easy Strawberry Pie.” All this in a kitchen that had been the home of genuine, from-scratch food preparation for more than two centuries.
So, yeah, our old farmhouse has a wonderful old Rumford fireplace and bee hive oven, but it is also full of money-pit problems, so don’t let me romanticize it too much. If you wanna know some of the bitter truths (and joys) of owning an old farmhouse? I wrote about those here.
Wanna know where you can unearth some rustic farmhouse treasures of your own? You will LOVE this site I just discovered–Antique Farmhouse. I’m already addicted.
I am very blessed indeed. To share just a little of the deliciousness, here are three of the recipes we loved making together a few nights ago:
Four Amazing Things to Make With Fresh-Picked Strawberries
1. Strawberry sorbet. Mix 4 cups of strawberries (hand mashed), 1/4 cup lemon juice, and 2 cups confectioners sugar in a blender then freeze until firm.
2. Strawberry pie. There are so many variations, but nothing comes close to my Aunt Jeanette’s “Easy Strawberry Pie.” To be fair, I wouldn’t call it all that “easy,” but it’s definitely all that worth it! (Take a quick second to subscribe to my resource library, below, and you’ll enjoy immediate access to a handy printout of both my Aunt Jeanette’s Easy Strawberry Pie recipe AND my Grandma’s Perfect Pie Crust recipe!
3. Strawberry pound cake. Layer thin slices of pound cake with vanilla ice cream and juicy, syrupy strawberries. You can slice the berries, cover with sugar, and let them sit at room temperature for about half an hour to have sweet syrup. But I prefer to mash the berries, creating instant juice and requiring no additional sugar. The slight sourness is a perfect complement to the sweet ice cream and rich cake.
4. Strawberry Fruit Roll Ups. I’m not a big roll up fan, so I make these as the first step towards my jars-full of fresh strawberry powder, which I use to sweeten yogurt, oatmeal, cupcakes, icing, and more, all year round. But a lot of moms have told me they love just making the roll up. Go here for the recipe.
And, since they’re not (technically) desserts, I won’t add Strawberry Kombucha or Strawberry Rhubarb simple syrup to my list, but if you’re a kombucha fan, this recipe for Strawberry Dandelion Kombucha is for you! And don’t miss my recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb simple syrup.
Other Deliciousness You Will Like
I welcomed you into my little farmhouse kitchen and made some lilac syrup with you recently. This recipe works with all kinds of fragrant flowers that may be blooming in your yard right now.
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For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things. Psalm 107:9
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Loved your strawberry picking story!
This is awesome. I remember our family having a strawberry patch as a young child. I could just go out to the backyard and pick strawberries when I wanted them. I have had strawberry rhubarb pie. Although I do not like rhubarb the pie is very good.
I’ve never had strawberry rhubarb pie, Betty. But I do LOVE strawberry pie.