Where Seedlings Grow

One of the first chores I did at Onyx Family Farms was harvest strawberries. It was the later part of September, so the season was reaching its end. Jake the Farmer said he needed them picked for the weekend market. Away I went picking. Little did I know that our 1.5 year old firstborn would live on this crop some four years later.

At that time, I was a WWOOFer – a participant of World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms – just elongating my summer by working on a farm in exchange for room and board in California. It was with WWOOFer power before my time that Jacob planted that crop of everbearing albion, twenty rows of plants in 75 foot long beds. It was a lot of strawberries y’all.

When this property was put on the market in 2021, I saw some photos of the land before Jacob began terraforming. The garden that accepted the strawberries was nothing but a flat, empty stretch with two lone trees – an apricot and mulberry. Oh what life he introduced!

The first year we were married, 2020, faithfully I went out to that patch several times a week, crawling, squatting, and stooping to pick the berries. On more than one occasion I was stung by a wasp. Sightings of roly-pollies were frequent. Sometimes I would try to get out before Petra woke up, then listen for her sounds through the open windows while I frantically picked. Other times she would accompany me, stealing berries from the bowl as I went.

How many strawberries we ate! Calories upon calories in the form of that juicy, sweet, aromatic berry. We sold some too. A friend made a road sign for us, and people would stop by periodically. We were no longer attending any markets to sell through, we made do with the drivebys.

The next year, I had a 2.5 year old and a 6 month old. Still, I went out to that patch. Still, we harvested pounds and pounds of fruit, and sold some. I began to notice though that many were already eaten by bugs by the time I got to them. The thistles and horseweed were starting to encroach, as well as mint in one of the beds.

The third year I was pregnant in my third trimester when the strawberry season began. Needless to say, I was not spending a great deal of time in the strawberry patch, though it was still there, and we did still eat some berries. We had a highschool student come out to pick and sell at her leisure.

In the fourth year, 2023, I began the season strong. I was determined to fight back against the weeds and harvest what I could. It felt like I spent the same amount of time weeding as harvesting, they were so thick. There were large blank spots in the rows of berries where weeds carpeted the ground. This went on for some weeks, about two months. Then, I got pregnant with our fourth child, and I threw in the towel.

Jacob cut the water, and we abandoned the crop. We did not save any plants, even just a few for the family. Was this a well thought out crop management choice? I am inclined to say not. Jacob was cutting costs of watering and honoring that his wife could not physically keep up with the demand.

The fourth summer, 2024, I was haunted by the knowledge that I had no strawberries to feed my children. Rivka, the third born, maybe enjoyed a few of our homegrown berries but she never got to play in the rows, or experience the delight of picking for herself. I have a picture on my kitchen wall of Petra, aged 2, standing in the garden smiling, presenting a berry. It accuses me of what I let slip through our fingers.

Late winter I said to Jacob, “we must get strawberries back. It is intolerable to live without them.” I basically refuse to buy them at the grocery store as it feels irreverent. Jacob, bless the man, was completely on board, and ready to jump on the purchase before we had a new bed, fence, or plan. We held off for a few months, and now, spring 2025, I am happy to announce that we have 18 strawberry plants to put in our new planter constructed from repurposed redwood boards from my father-in-law’s deck.

May we be mindful stewards of these little plant babies, and may my children reap their just rewards!