Well, they didn't last long

The strawberries, that is. At least here in southwest Michigan. All the local patches (including my strawberry patch that meanders around some of our raised beds) wrapped up the strawberry season over the weekend. The strawberries started early and left just as quickly as they arrived. We made the most of them and enjoyed fresh strawberries on cereal, pancakes, waffles and ice cream. I ate countless bowls of strawberry shortcake as well. In fact, with that in mind it is probably just as well that the season is over - at least as far as my waistline is concerned.

Here is what our local orchard, Corey Lake Orchards, had to say about the season -

Due to the early spring heat, everything is running about 10 days to 2 weeks early this year. It’s almost unheard of for strawberries to be over and to be in the middle of cherry season during the middle of June!

Sounds like we had better get our fill of cherries as quickly as possible - they might go just as fast as the strawberries.

Another great local market for asparagus, strawberries, and blueberries is Riverland Farm Market. They are supposed to have Michigan blueberries in starting this Friday, June 25th.

Crooked Creek Farms Produce Stand

Wasn't the weather simply gorgeous across Michigan over the weekend? I certainly enjoyed working on a few late summer projects and spending part of the day on Saturday attending a local harvest festival. One of our favorite farm market vendors, Crooked Creek Farms, wasn't at the harvest festival so we drove on over to their produce stand and picked up some wonderful heirloom tomatoes, green peppers, and potatoes. They have delicious locally-grown produce at excellent prices. I don't think we paid more than we would at a local chain grocery store that was trucking in the produce from across the country. In addition to the great prices and tasty food we're supporting a local business and I believe that is important.

Who knows how many more weekends we'll have that were as beautiful as this past one? I hope everyone enjoyed some time outside :).