There is one very basic and fatal flaw in the concept of me being in charge of the strawberry garden:
I eat too many berries.
The photograph you see above is pretty much the extent of our strawberry garden’s “yield” for 2007. The way-too-tasty strawberries can only be called “produce” if they make it successfully from Point A to Point B--in this case, from garden to house. If, however, the Strawberry Picker (that would be me) comes along during harvest and pops more strawberries into his mouth than into his berry pan, then the garden economy gets all out of whack.
Oh yes, I could make excuses. I could tell you that this spring we pulled out all the plants, tilled the garden, then replanted. I could make a weak case that berry production this year was bound to suffer. The sad truth is this: I ate WAY too many strawberries.
And that gardener with the red teeth and the sheepish, guilty grin? Yes, that would be me.
