Guin says it’s been 5 years since she asked me to write my memories…well time flies when you are having fun…so I must be having a Great time. And yes my path across this adventure called life had been Great.

My grandparents had a path that led to their “big pond”. Down across the peach orchard thru a wooded area and into a pine needle softened stretch that was like heaven to smell and oh so soft. Those trees towered above my head and I loved that path. It would end up at the overflow to the pond.  They grew orchards of apples and cherries on the rolly drumlins in Lyons NY. And they grew strawberries.

My strawberry growing genes must have come from them. As a young mom with 4 kiddies, I decided to be a stay at home mom and grow strawberries. I could be where my kids were, have them”help” me and teach them all I knew.  Well at that time I didn’t know much of anything about strawberries and little kiddies don’t really “help”and the playpen at the end of the row with their cousins in it wasn’t exactly where they wanted to spend everyday. But we did learn together.

We started small scale and over the years have grown and expanded to Raspberries and Blueberries and markets and CSAs. From figuring out what frost protection is to learning how to start an irrigation pump in the middle of the night (when the temperatures are dropping below 32 ) by myself to having a patch overgrown with weeds to having a picture perfect (well almost weed free) patch, and experimenting with different varieties to see what tastes best(remember bigger isn’t always better) we have traveled the rows and gained so much along the way.

Yes the kids learned how to pick and weed and make change. And yes the endless jibber jabber among the Pickers in the early morning has been replaced by ear buds and cell phones. (But the phrase “only the strawberries know” will forever be a “cousin” joke). The kids have grown and gone off to work on our farm or started businesses of their own but what they learned from a young age working beside us in the fields and markets has been priceless. God has blessed this path I chose and He continually blesses us and we are so thankful.  Thankful that now the grandkids look forward to coming and “helping ” and learning.  The circle widens and the path may be hard at times.  Remember that the path you choose touches all those around you.  Give thanks to the One who created you and do the best job you can!!