Strawberries!!

So, yesterday I went and picked strawberries at the Al Duris farm along the Green River, one of the last working farms in the Green River Valley. The quality of their stuff is a good reminder of just how good this land used to be for farming, and why people settled on it back in the 1850s.

Being able to buy their strawberries right off the farm is something we look forward to each year -- there's something undefinable about just-picked fruit that's just hard to match at in a produce section, even a good one. This year they've been delayed and delayed by the rains until we thought they might not open at all, but they finally did -- for just two weeks rather than their usual five- to six-week season. But two weeks is still enough time to drop by several times and buy a half-flat (six pints) of berries, taken them home, and pop all we can't eat into freezer bags to enjoy over the coming year.

With any luck they'll still be open a few days this week. If you're going to be in the area, it's definitely worth a side-trip down that little road (Frager Road, I think) that runs past the too-quaintly named 'Old Fishing Hole' park all the way down to the West Valley Hwy.

--John R.

UPDATE (Tues. July 6th): I swung by again today, and they're still open. In fact, because the weather's turned so warm and dry they expect to be able to extend the season through this week and maybe even into the weekend. They do have a few other things from their other farms (fresh picked Rainier cherries, raspberries-- apparently their main farm specializes in cucumbers), but for my money it's their strawberries that can't be beat. --JDR