June 19th, 2008 By Auntie M

Strawberry Fields Forever…

This morning I made my annual pilgrimage to Thompson Finch Farm in Ancram, to pick strawberries for my (once-a-year-only) Fresh Strawberry Pie. From now until the 2nd week of July, strawberries are the stars of this family-run, Certified Organic farm. I thought I’d get there while the going was good…a weekday morning shouldn’t be too crowded.

When I arrived, there were already about 30 cars in the parking area and the place was crawling (literally) with kids. Everywhere I looked, there were kids of all ages with their parents – learning the intricacies of how and which strawberries to pick (and eat!). Everyone was having such a good time – adults and kids alike. I thought, what a great way to introduce children to the concept of where their food actually comes from (i.e., not the grocery store).

$Here\'s how you do it$

$Strawberry: I\'m Ready for my Close Up$ This year’s crop seems particularly plentiful. 4 ½ acres of big, gorgeous, shiny red berries glistening in the morning sun. It really is hard not to taste one of these juicy babies. Of course, I only ate a couple…just for testing purposes.

Thompson Finch Farm, a fifth generation family farm, has been in operation for 26 years…they were “organic” before organic was cool. Martha Stewart featured them a couple years ago in her magazine and this month’s issue of The Valley Table has a terrific feature about the Farm.

I talked to owner, Don MacLean, on my way to my car and asked him if there was anything in particular he’d like us to pass on to our readers. “The next few weeks are the best time for picking. By July 4th it’s pretty much over for the very best strawberries.” Don and his wife Marnie are also planning to offer “a more steady supply of vegetables from June through October, throughout the pick-your-own season . We will continue to carry organic meat (from Herondale Organic Farm) and will also be carrying this year’s maple syrup produced by the maple trees of our friends, Joe Baker and Bonner McAllester of Monterey, Mass. They make some of the best syrup we have ever tasted!”

As I drove home, I turned on the car radio. Our local NPR station was airing a Pulse of the Planet story about what the first astronauts to Mars will need to bring with them food-wise. The astrobiologist from NASA said that since it will be a 2-year round trip they’ll actually bring living organisms along on the journey for food. She said, “There are people who work on growing plants for astronauts and one of the things that they grow are strawberries. People seem to psychologically need to eat more than just a pill with a lot of vitamins.”