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| The "love-liest" strawberry I've ever seen! |
June 15th was all about the strawberries! Our bed of June bearing strawberries were producing at full force on this day at the orchard. Harvest, counting, and weighing of the strawberries was one of those huge jobs that makes us especially grateful for the big team we have working in the field this summer. The strawberry production beds are a part of some research comparing the yields of different varieties, and because of this we have the extra step of weighing yields from each variety and counting the individual strawberries. As much as everyone loves to eat the strawberries I’m already noticing decreased enthusiasm due to the labor associated with harvest! Such a key lesson I’ve learnt through my hands-on farming experiences is that it is so easy to underestimate the time that goes into what seems like a simple task. It sure has given me a whole new level of respect for the time a farmer puts into the field!
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| Some of the harvest |
The first couple weeks of June the weather was cool and wet which imparts a more watery-tart flavour in our strawberries. Although a little less sweet than I like my strawberries there is nothing like the delicious flavour of fresh picked strawberries. I am curious as to whether we will notice a large difference in the brix content of the strawberries from the earlier rainy, cool part of June compared to the warmer, drier end of the month. What is brix content? We use degrees brix as a unit of measurement for the sugar content in an aqueous solution. Consensus amongst the agroecosystem students is that Cabot, the variety that produces the largest and most abundant of strawberries, is the least sweet or tasty variety. Funny how that works out, eh?
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| One big, weird "Cabot" strawberry |
The rest of our time spent on the field was filled weeding the brassicas and then covering them with the row covers. We caught the weeds early which meant we could clean things up pretty quickly using hoes. The row covers provide a physical barrier to prevent the cabbageworm from eating our brassicas.
After lunch we headed to the classroom for a session of student tool time presentations.
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| The team hard at work harvesting |
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| Hoeing the brassicas |
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| Tool time student handouts |
June 15th was all about the strawberries! Our bed of June bearing strawberries were producing at full force on this day at the orchard. Harvest, counting, and weighing of the strawberries was one of those huge jobs that makes us especially grateful for the big team we have working in the field this summer. The strawberry production beds are a part of some research comparing the yields of different varieties, and because of this we have the extra step of weighing yields from each variety and counting the individual strawberries. As much as everyone loves to eat the strawberries I’m already noticing decreased enthusiasm due to the labor associated with harvest! Such a key lesson I’ve learnt through my hands-on farming experiences is that it is so easy to underestimate the time that goes into what seems like a simple task. It sure has given me a whole new level of respect for the time a farmer puts into the field!
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