A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Strawberries For A Sunday Post

I was in the woods last week and found a teeny,tiny, little, berry. I thought it looked like a strawberry. I sampled it and it was sooooo sweet. They are growing all over the woods. One of the bonuses of the woods is the natural bounty you come across. Along with swatting mosquitoes I enjoyed finding this new surprise this year. Maybe it was in the wildflower seed that I sowed last fall. Wild strawberries are popular berries growing wild in temperate climates. Medieval records mention that these berries were used for food and medicine. As long ago as the 1400s, wild strawberries were planted in English herb gardens. These berries were growing in the New World when the colonists settled here. They found that the natives collected large quantities of these berries, eating them fresh and drying some for winter use. They must have had oodles of them. The colonists soon were cultivating these American varieties in their gardens. They even sent species of these plants back to England. Many of the commercial cultivated strawberries today are hybrids from plants developed from wild North American varieties. They have been used for many purposes over the years - strawberry wine, strawberries and cream, strawberry jams and jellies, strawberry shortcake, etc. Strawberries are high in vitamin C. The leaves, nutritious, too, have been used for strawberry tea, a drink rich in this vitamin. I have recently read that wild strawberries are full of antioxidants and are good for fighting cancer. So, I think that I will let the birds eat their fill and maybe they'll sample my mosquitoes at the same time.
Balisha

3 comments:

garden girl said...

Those little wild berries are the most delicious strawberries, I think. The big 'uns shipped from California just don't compare in sweetness or intense strawberry flavor.

Hope you're have a wonderful, mosquito-free weekend Balisha!

Anonymous said...

I was just going to echo garden girl's comments -- finding those tiny berries when we were kids was like discovering hidden treasure. So sweet and warmed by the sun -- no cultivated berry can compare, for sure. :)

Anonymous said...

Those strawberries grow wild here everywhere. They even get in my flower beds. I have never tasted one. Guess I will have to try it.
Have a good week.