My last blog was about a wishful big snowfall. I'm going to assume (knock on wood) that since it's March 2nd already, the big snowfall is not going to happen for me. The buttercups (some of you may refer to them as daffodils) are abundantly growing along the fields and roads in Williamson county, but they seem to be a little early this year. I think that means we need to brace for a hot summer much like our cold winter we're leaving behind us. Buttercups are my absolute favorite flower. When I was little they grew wild all over our old farm. I can remember that Dad used to bring Mom buttercups home which he would pick from the fields. I loved the smell of them on the kitchen table. I was reminded of this last Spring when my fiance’, Brandon, came to my house with five vases full of them! He had gotten his farm crew to help him pick as many buttercups as they could manage. It was a fantastic surprise and I had a vase in every room. I'm secretly looking forward to having as many in my house this year, and so far Brandon has brought me one vase full.
I love buttercups, but I ADORE strawberries! When I was four years old I was picking strawberries with Mom and legend has it that I ate more than I picked- 4 quarts more. She had to take me to the doctor the next day when I broke out in red dots all over my body, including my tongue. From then on I was dubbed the strawberry girl. As luck (and careful planning) would have it, we're expecting strawberries out of our hoophouses in 3 weeks!! 3 weeks!! I can already envision running down the rows in the protective haygrove tunnels, buttercups in my left hand, strawberries in my right. I'm beyond excited at the prospect of having strawberries months earlier than usual. I planned my wedding around these early strawberries, making sure that I had the correct date when they were planted and verifying with Dad over and over when he thought our gamble at early strawberries would pay off. Playing it safe, he assured me he was certain they would be ready April 30th. So Brandon and I set the wedding date for April 30th and I found a wedding cake baker who will use our strawberries in my strawberry wedding cake. Now that the early berries are producing even earlier than we expected I am working at pushing back that small fear in the back of my mind that by the time April 30th comes around the early berries will all be gone! Hopefully the field berries will be ready by then..that’s the plan anyway. (Plan B is to cancel the wedding and move it to the middle of May when the field berries for sure will be ready, but I haven’t shared that crazy plan with anyone yet...).
In order to pollinate the berries in the hoophouses we have ordered bumblebees! Apparently honeybees won’t go in the tunnels, but bumblebees will. Maybe because bumblebees are ergonomically not really supposed to be able to fly anyway, they think to themselves, hey, I’m already defying nature, let’s get crazy in these tunnels! I don’t know..but that’s my fun theory. At any rate, bumblebees, berries and buttercups are in my life this glorious Spring, and on April 30th, Brandon, my beau, will become my better half!
For your own berries pollinated by bumblebees, visit us at the Franklin Farmers Market and the West Nashville Farmers market on Saturdays! Until it's time for the berries we'll have your leafy greens, shiitake mushrooms, potatoes and winter squashes. I will keep you posted on the berry debut.
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