The Intro Collage Is Pure Delight ..
It is comprised of photos taken during last years first harvest. I wouldn't have been able to tell you then, that Pepper would be gone by fall and that I would be missing these priceless moments in the future. But unfortunately, now I can. I miss Pepper dearly, especially on those days that I am doing something that I know he would have been interested in.. Like picking the Strawberries from our Strawberry patch.
It's hard NOT to reminisce.. About days gone by and the way I felt then. They were great times and I have no regrets at all, because I let the moments happen to me. I let those moments in and enjoyed the time I was spending with them. I didn't care about the strawberries, but rather cared about the dogs and I enjoying the moment surrounding the strawberries. That is why that photo collage above means something to me. Myself and my little fur family having a blast doing something simple.
Not going to lie.. the strawberries were good too!
This Year's Harvest Is Not Over Yet ..
Only a short ten days ago, I was posting about our first harvest of strawberries. The berry season is always too short. We pick like mad and then it's over; lasting about three weeks if we are lucky. I headed out with a bowl and picked enough to fill just about 3/4 of it.
Things have certainly ramped up.. and we are getting slammed with berries! We have been out to the patch multiple times to pick, each time filling multiple bowls. Now when we go out, we call up the neighbors and have them meet us out there to pick. On Monday, between us and the neighbors, we filled four huge bowls with berries. Hundreds and hundreds of berries. I believe they are going to be baking with theirs. For us, we are eating them throughout the day, and giving them away. I did freeze a few bags for my cousin in Pennsylvania who will make good use of them too.
During this round of picking.. I chose to dump all of the berries into the sink and top them all (remove the top cap .. the green stuff). I gave them a good cold bath and began to cut away. Strawberries on one side and the green top on the other. I may or may not have messed up a few times and mixed things up.. that happens at my age. My brain can't keep up and miss placed a few of them. One or two also hit my mouth by accident hehe.
Fresh Clean Strawberries Ready To Be Eaten..
The green junk and bad parts, ready to be taken to the compost pile..
An artistic photograph depicting the lovely shaded red berries floating in sink water..
It's Wednesday Now.. And I plan on going out into the patch again this evening. I am expecting a decline in the amounts to be picked over the next few attempts at harvesting. There are still quite a few green berries hanging off the plants, but at some point I feel like the plants just don't have enough energy to plump them up and turn them red.
One day it will be just a memory, and the berries will be gone.
One day this will be just a memory; the time spent in the garden picking strawberries, and talking to gentle ears listening to my hands rustling the leaves. The words leave my lips and two pairs of eyes draw close, leaning on the emphasis and pronunciation of each letter spoken. My mind fills with joy and a smile forms below my nose, as I stumble on the seasons first berry while mumbling something very befitting. As I drawl it out from beneath it's leafy shelter, I am tempted to eat it. Tempted to peal off the green collar of leaves surrounding its stem, and pluck it strait into my mouth. But I don't. Instead, I pause and look directly into the eyes of my loved ones, and I am lost. I am a victim of their gaze. My fingers, without hesitation, break the berry in half. Sweet, red juices flow to the tips of my fingers and then drip to the grass covered ground below them. In an instant, I am surrounded by two longing souls searching for the juicy, tender goodness I posses. One at a time, I feed them the seasons first find and a feeling of intense joy comes over me. I am filled with happiness and content, pretending to be a provider; the one needed to sustain life. But one day I realized that this was not so, rather an illusion I created in my mind. I realized that they do not need me, but rather I needed them. They were my provider. Tomorrow is gone, today is here, my life is blessed, because I have the memories to comfort me.
Thank you for swinging by my blog and checking out the post. Have a great day!
All words, pictures and art pieces are the sole property of B D Miller Gallery, unless otherwise noted and credited, and are not to be reproduced or copied without the prior written consent of B D Miller Gallery.
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Nice garden, @bdmillergallery. Lucky for you to have a couple of good guard dogs, protecting the harvest.
Thank you! I still need to get out there and get this years veggie crop in.. you know.. to give Molly something more substantial to protect 😆😁
This post was really touching and intriguing. It quickly grabbed my attention. I am so sorry that you lost sweet Pepper. I really admire your photos, they are so precious. It's nice that you have them to enjoy the memories.
The photos of all of those bright red strawberries were really fun to see. My family just planted strawberries for the first time this year and we are starting to see the leaves come up. I am hoping we get enough to make a few jars of jam (that's if we don't eat them all first lol).
I'm glad you mentioned that the berry harvest is short lived. Now I'll be prepared to act fast and pick them once they're ready :)
Thank you for sharing this lovely post ~
Thank you @crosheille 😌 yes we miss our Pepper dearly. Not a single day goes by that I don't think about my friend.
You have strawberries growing?! Very cool. When I first planted these plants I only got a handful of berries, but the following years they increased in number.. both the berries and the plants. Best wishes with yours and I hope you get plenty to eat and make into jam 🤗
Thanks again for the support 😁
What did you use to make the collage? I have a hard time finding good programs or apps to do that sort of thing. My wife uses piccollage, but I have never really investigated their privacy policy, so that kind of bugs me. We used to have strawberries growing up. My grandma use to have raspberries too. It was always a lot of fun picking the fruit fresh and eating it. These look beautiful!
Raspberries are fun to pick but I always hate the seeds getting stuck in my teeth.. hehe. My grandparents grew Rhubarb. They would make pies and sauce out of it. Have you ever had that?
For the photos collages I have been using this website. It's free and easy to use. Very simple and no fancy stuff .. just a simple collage. Perfect for me. lol. Here's the link... https://makephotogallery.net/ you can even take their logo off. There is an option at the very bottom of all the options, to do that. I donated once to them because I use it so dang much.
Thanks, I will check that out. Yeah strawberry rhubarb pie is the bomb!
How did I miss this one? Precious memories. It certainly makes you sigh while you do things you know were so loved by the one you miss.
I do that so often, often times without realizing it and I have my son's looking at me like' are you in that place again'.
Such lovely photographs too, I see Pepper was the more curious one.
I loved reading that last bit, so poetic, so melancholic and so precious.
How did you miss it??? haha. I miss everything. Then I try to play catch up. Just not enough time in the day for everything I suppose.
Oh My gosh! This is so true how easily our minds slip from reality to past in an instant. It's not fair to be so human. I try not to dwell too deeply on the sad times and am trying to think more about the good ones. Posting on Hive about it helps more than you know (or maybe you do know) lol.
You didn’t invite me. I love strawberries especially right off the vine. Dam I’m jealous
Ah Man.. 😞 I forgot to give you a call. There's still some out there.. your welcome to them! 😁
It’s all good. Haven’t had fresh off the vine strawberries in years. They are the best.
I remember going with the fam to pick them at one of those pick your own patches/farms. Good times.. good memories of eating until I was sick. lol
Pepper looks like a good harvesting companion, and those are the best moments we carry when they leave.
PS: pepper combines with strawberries, their colors stand out.
He WAS 😊 I miss that. He was always right there by my side, regardless of what was going on. Thank you for stopping by and leaving the comment.. It made me smile and I really needed that today 🤗
Thank you @ackhoo and @qurator for the curation and support 😁
So cute 😽😽😽
Thank you 😁