Strawberries!

If you love strawberries, I'm sure you've been picking and eating them for a few weeks now.  We are getting to the end of our season, but Cobblestone Valley Farm is still open and still picking.  Their late variety is going strong and they've got some beautiful organic berries.  These photos show those that I picked on Friday being prepped for dehydrating.  I picked about 32 quarts this year, that was plenty to make jam for us and to give away, dehydrated some, and sliced and froze some.  Of course we ate quite a few, too (and drank a few in fresh made daiquiris).  We also have our own small patch that we gathered enough from to make strawberry shortcake and snack on.  Why spend time picking organic strawberries from local sources?  Well, for one I find they taste much better.  But take a look at this article to see how strawberries are listed among the "dirty dozen" of fruits and vegetables that have the most pesticide residue if conventionally grown.