It's that time of year again..... the fresh local strawberries and raspberries are popping up in flats for sale at your local farmer's markets and grocery stores. We are accustomed to having access to these delicious berries all year since our produce can be grown in hothouses. However, you MUST buy and eat fresh local produce when it is in season. The nutrient value for fresh local food is much higher than the produce you can purchase at the grocery store year-round AND it tastes amazing!
Nothing tastes as good as a homegrown strawberry or tomatoes from your own backyard garden patch. If you don't have room or time to grow your own, venture out on the weekend to a local farmer's market and see what they have to offer. Another fun activity is to go berry picking. There are many local farms that offer the experience of being amongst the fruit and picking your own to take home. It is a great way to get outside and enjoy some of our early summer sunshine while harvesting your own food that gives you a feeling of connecting with nature and your sustenance in a new way.
We are fortunate and have a bounty of fresh fruit growing in our backyard. Our strawberry patch produces enough berries for me to make multiple batches of fresh strawberry jam. Our raspberry bushes this year are full of sweet little gems that Anya sneaks snacks from all day and Elin devours and signs "more" the entire time we pop them in her mouth. Our rhubarb plant is also a prolific producer. We harvest the stalks and it grows back in just a few months to provide another crop. The rhubarb pairs beautifully with our sweet strawberries and one of my favorite desserts is a strawberry-rhubarb crisp. I have included the recipe I use at the bottom of this post.
The fresh produce seasons are fairly short, so make sure you go out and pick up some great berries to snack on or bake with or turn into delicious jam. If you wait, it will be too late!
Eat the seasonal bounty
Strawberry-rhubarb crisp
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