strawberry smorgasbord

Kate and I went strawberry picking on Friday at Hilltop Farms! What started out as a royally disappointing afternoon turned into a pretty gorgeous evening. We'd been planning this strawberry picking trip with the garden crew from the Boys' Club for at least a month. The kids got their permission slips all filled in and planned out the questions they were going to ask Farmer Fred about his all-organic farm....and then the trip got postponed because of bureaucratic issues at The Boys' Club. Oh, how they whined. But we rescheduled.....only to have the bus break down the day we rescheduled to. Kate and I, upon learning this, were already convened and ready to bolt from work early to head down to the farm. After a brief spell of whining ourselves about the poor kids, we said, hey, let's go anyway and pick strawberries for the kids. And we did.

When we arrived, Farmer Fred happened to be giving an interview for a local newspaper about strawberries, and the whys and wherefors of organic food. Media darling that I am (hah!), and long-time member of Fred's CSA, I contributed my two cents and posed pretty for the camera.
Then we picked strawberries. Oh, glorious Sweet Charlies, oh heavenly blue evening, thou didst make all my troubles melt away. Strawberries plucked from the bushes and eaten immediately are mind-blowingly good.

strawberry picking 5/18/07

Then, after a mellow round of strawberry picking, we were invited in for beers and got to hear about Farmer Fred's nomination to be part of the 100 People Project. Have you heard about this? I had a vague recollection of hearing the words before, but didn't really understand what it was about, still don't entirely, but damn, does it seem cool.

The [100 People] project will find and capture in film, photography, music and text 100 individuals who represent the global population, proportionate to annual global surveys and statistics. This World Portrait will be used to make an introduction between the peoples of the earth and to facilitate a greater understanding of the diversity and the commonalities among us.

Check it out, it's quite cool. And, under the "videos" tab, you can see some beautifully done trailers, a piece from Niger, AND a piece from NC featuring our own Farmer Fred. It makes me get all misty, it's so beautiful.

Tomorrow, we make strawberry shortcakes and spring salad at the Boys' Club. I'm still disappointed the kids couldn't have come to the farm, but I hope eating the strawberries will be a halfway decent consolation prize.