ecoyear

When my strawberry harvest proves inadequate, I'll have to learn to make rose jelly.

Many times when you read lists of the reasons why one would prefer to eat local, one of the reasons is price. Produce in season grown closer to home is supposed to be more affordable.

So here I go for the first year intending to can my own strawberry jam. Not rocket science, except that local strawberries cost $6/pint, which once hulled and cored and cut up, amount to about $6/cup, and if you add the sugar, the canning supplies and the energy used in canning, will doubtless cost more than strawberry jam bought from the farmer's market (most jams were about $7-7.50 per 16 oz jar).

Several factors converge to cause this, including the fact that local farmers pick by hand, that many lost the June harvest to a late frost, and other details of strawberry farming I am blissfully unaware of.

Strawberries at $3/pint appeared briefly at the Cure farm stand, but I don't know whether they will be back. At the farmer's market, a woman at the Monroe Farms booth told me she did not expect berry prices to drop this year. Other sources of local berries includes Jay Hill Farm, where they also cost $6/pint, and the farmers quote the work involved as being a major part of that cost. Note that Jay Hill Farm does conveniently offer email ordering.

What of the work involved? Well I have a little berry patch - it has just started producing, yielding about 4 pints of berries in the last two days. It took me 20 minutes today to pick 2 pints. Hmmm... I need to put my kids to work, under the threat of no jam this winter!!

"Pick your own" farms are another idea. There is actually a pick your own website that lists Colorado farms. For strawberries specifically, Berry Patch Farms in Brighton regrets to announce that they indeed lost their June harvest to that late frost, although they do expect a late summer (late July, early August) harvest.

Lovers of apples may be interested in the following website: this concerns September and October.

Another intriguing and not entirely close to home place is Coastalfields farm, which won't have strawberries but will have peas available soon, and offers pick-your-own, as well as horseback rides and gardening lessons.

And by the way, Farmer John promises to bring the first 2008 cherries to the Wednesday Farmer's Market next week. Just don't beat me to them!