Eating to Live!

Getting a head start

I was happy to be able to spend a couple hours in the greenhouse Wednesday evening, so I planted a few seeds of lettuce, spinach and kale. I ran out of peat pots and have to make a run to a garden center this weekend to replenish as I have plenty more packets of seeds to get going.

One of the things I am trying this year, which I have never grown from seed before, are alpine strawberries. I love fresh strawberries and always try to go picking in early June so we have some on hand throughout the rest of the year, but sometimes our schedules aren’t conducive to spending a weekend picking and cleaning berries. When our children were young and I wasn’t working outside the home, it was a given that every year in early summer, we would visit a nearby strawberry farm and load up our backseat and trunk with several quarts of berries. I would spend the next two days cleaning berries, making jam and loading freezer bags with the luscious fruit.

What I realize now that I failed to do on Wednesday was to freeze the strawberry seeds. This method of trying to fool Mother Nature is called stratifying and it is intended to make the seeds think they have been through the winter in order to germinate. This doesn’t mean my strawberry seeds won’t grow, but it might take them longer, but that’s okay. They’ll be plenty of fresh berries available until mine are ready for picking.

Alpine strawberries are related to the wild strawberry of my youth that used to grow along the roadside. I would walk along the road and pick berries to take home where my babysitter would make them into a sweet dessert for me to enjoy after lunch.

Interestingly enough, alpine strawberries (Fragaria vesca), do not spread from runners like the June bearing hybrids on the market these days. Instead, they emerge from seeds that fall from unpicked fruit. The seeds are extremely fine, like dust particles. I sprinkled the lot of the seed packet over a large container of soil, but have no idea where they fell. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see. Once they emerge and are ready for planting, I’ll have to find a little spot of earth for them grow as they are not only perennial plants, but are evergreen as well. I’ve grown alpines before in what else but terra cotta strawberry jars, but plan to make a permanent home for these little plants if my seed starting attempts are successful.

Growing alpine strawberries from seed isn’t my only attempt at new things. Thursday my husband and I went to a new eatery, or at least new to us, for another restaurant review. I splurged a bit, particularly since I have been craving a burger the past couple of weeks, and treated myself to one at this restaurant. But it wasn’t just any burger, it was a Bison Burger. In addition to the burger, my side choices were either chips or fries. Since this was a planned cheat and one is just as bad as the other, I opted for the fries. We also ordered appetizers, and had something we’ve never had before. To read more about it, check out the complete review in the Tribune Chronicle’s entertainment section, “The Ticket” published each Thursday.