feuervogel | Spring, strawberries. Summer, corn

When I was growing up, going out with the family (me, my sister, our mom, and her parents) for berry picking was a late spring tradition. It was fun, taking a basket and filling it with strawberries. It was an early Saturday morning thing, because if you waited too late, the sun would get too hot and all the good berries would be gone!

I couldn't remember the name of the farm, but my sister asked Grandma, and she said it was Butler's Orchards. That doesn't sound right to me; I remember the name being more syllabic and Germanic. Baumgartner's, maybe. I tried the internet, but neither of the places listed in Frederick County, MD, were right. I remember it being up north of town a bit, up Hwy 15. Maybe they closed down. Or maybe it *was* Butler's.

I don't love strawberries like I do musk melons or pears, or even a sweet-tart autumn apple,* but biting into a dark red strawberry is wonderfully nostalgic. Sometimes mom would put underripe berries in the fridge covered with sugar. Mmm.

*Macintoshes are my favorite, followed by Braeburn, Gala, Fuji, Pink Lady, and Ginger Gold. I like Yellow Delicious, but not as much as I used to. I like Gala for cooking. I can't stand Granny Smiths. I'll hold forth on melons in the summer, no doubt, when the local farm that grows heirloom varieties has them out.