Sharing The First Fruit

Dateline: 12 June 2006




The Lovely Marlene and I were picking weeds out of the strawberry rows last night just before dark. There are many unripe berries waiting for some sunshine to hasten them into glorious scarlet maturity. Amidst all the lush greenery of berry plants and weeds, I caught a glimpse of red. 

Sure enough, there was a lone, plump, picture perfect, Ozark Beauty strawberry. In two 50 foot rows of strawberry plants, this berry was the only one that wasn’t green— it was fully-ripened-red, clean and sparkling bright. Of course, I picked it.

I said, “Look at this Marlene! It’s beautiful! Here, you can have the first strawberry of the season.”

She said, “No, you can have it.”

I said, “How about I take a little bite and you can have the rest?”

She said, “How about you take a big bite and I’ll eat the rest?”

So I bit the end off (about 1/3 of the berry). It was tender, fresh, sweet, and heavenly good.

“Oh, Marlene. You gotta taste this!”

I held the partial berry out to her. She popped it in her mouth, closed her eyes and savored the incredible flavor.

All of which led me to the realization that the only thing better than experiencing the flavor of a sweet, ripe, organic strawberry, just five seconds after plucking it from the plant, is sharing that experience with someone you love.


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

A mouth watering post. Uggh. NO berries this year. We put the hoop house for the chickesn over our old patch. Go figure!

Lynn Bartlett said...

That post needs to go into your next book!

Emily said...

Mmmm, I agree. I discovered that we have a few patches of wild strawberries growing out back near the wooded part of our property. They are luscious as well but I imagine once the chickens start roaming around, they'll be goners. May your harvest be bountiful!

Anonymous said...

Hi Mr. Kimball! Those berries sound great! My boys love picking and eating the wild strawberries. I just won a copy of your book over at Homesteadblogger. Can't wait to read it!

Amey

Herrick Kimball said...

Amey,

Congratulations on winning a copy of the book!

Missouri Rev said...

Ah yes, the rewards of the "good life." I have been truly enjoying the delicious shakes my wife and daughter have been making from the sweet, ripe cherries and mulberries they pick daily. For that matter, the steamed lamb's quarters freshly picked are wonderful!! Thanks for the mouth watering post.