Back By Popular Demand

At the bidding of several (and by several, I mean two) Berry Stand Fans, I plan on revving up the old tractor and dragging the old Six Strawberry Stand back out to the side of road.

Now, I know what you're thinking, "Shortcake, we've heard it all before! You said back in January '08 that you were 'back!' How do we know it's for real this time?

Well, this time you'll just have to trust me.

Keep checking back!

XOXO,
Shortcake

The Word is Out

What is the best way to sell your products to the masses? Do it through a channel that everyone knows and loves.

Strawberry Net has married together two of my favorite things: strawberries and personal products, or as my mom calls it: "foo-foo." The stuff that makes you pretty, confident and smelling great.

Calling itself "A fresh cosmetic company," this website has taken something everyone knows and loves (duh, strawberries) and turning it into a global network with over 20,000 items from 200 brands.

"Like fresh strawberries, all our products are fresh and genuine brand items and our special offers are simply, irresistibly sweet. We are a totally international company that purchases all genuine products duty free and delivers anywhere in the world. We have hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers in over 200 countries worldwide."

Because of the global nature of this fantastic company, the best way to reach customer services is by email: info@StrawberryNET.com

They have some of the lowest prices on the internet and FREE shipping! I encourage all of you 'berries out there to give this a try.

What's Cuter than Strawberries?

What's cuter than strawberries? Not much. But if it's possible to find something cuter, Cute Overload would find it.

A daily stop for this shortcake, I highly recommend it. Pictures of kittens, puppies and other delectible animals may just "Overload" your sense of adorability (yeah, I made that one up). With 38 rules of cuteness - and counting - there's something for everyone. These include, if you tilt your head to one side, it's cute. A thing, accompanied by a smaller version of that thing, is always cute. If you're caught doing something bad, it's cute.

And, my personal favorite: Simply put, Chub.

So put a postage stamp on your forehead, because you're mailing it in for the rest of the day. You have years of Cute Overload to catch up on!!

The Berry's Back

After a long vacation, some serious occupational changes for Shortcake here and a new perspective on what I would call my goals and ambitions, I'd like to start this blog back up.

Since the dawn of the Six Strawberries Stand, my posts have generally been about strawberries and their absolute wonderous effects on the human mind, body and spirit. And it goes without saying that one of my most favorite things in the world is a cool, sweet strawberry eaten in the height of an Iowa summer.

Well, a woman cannot live on strawberries alone. In the future, I hope you look forward to some great commentary on some of my most favorite things. I'll be updating the site regularly again, so check back from time to time.

A Record Year!

County's berry crop booms!

Michigan Strawberry Harvest in September

The proliferation of pumpkins says it's September.

Bountiful batches of beans say it's September.

Stupendous stacks of squash say September.

But harvesting strawberries in September in Sault Ste. Marie? Whoda thunk it?

Strawberries were what Kaitlyn Teller (shown) and her family were picking and enjoying at White Blossom Farms yesterday at 607 Leigh's Bay Road.

Scads and scads of brilliant, red, ripe, sweet, strawberries growing rampant and lush in green fields.

"I don't know why this happened," says White Blossom Farm proprietor Jim Grisdale. "We didn't expect them to produce this year at all, let alone twice, especially after we spent the time to take 155,000 blossoms off the plants."

Grisdale says that he and his partner, Allison Horne, were surprised when the strawberry bushes they planted this May yielded flowers.

They decided to try to prevent them from bearing fruit, so the plants would have a season to grow strong before putting energy into making berries.

He said that he and Horne couldn't keep up with the flowers and eventually gave up on the idea.

So they harvested a thin crop of strawberries in July. Now, they're drowning in a second crop of strawberries in September.

"We chose an ever-bearing plant that would yield a smaller, sweeter berry," he says. "As you can see, it also has a beautiful, natural gloss too." Grisdale hopes this will herald a change in the way strawberries are grown in the Sault, at least at White Blossom Farms anyway."

If the plants survive the winter, then this is all we will plant from now on," he says. Next year they plan to expand the two-acre strawberry patch at White Blossom Farms by about another acre or so.

Part of what makes the strawberries so prolific could be the gigantic rain cistern in the barn. The cistern is actually an old well that plunges 40 feet into the ground, measuring roughly four feet across and holding about 4,500 gallons of water.

"We use rain water from the roof of the barn and we augment that from water from the well in the house," said Grisdale. "We put about 3,500 gallons an hour in the garden for an hour and a half twice a week."

Grisdale and Horne installed nearly four miles of buried drip line under the rows of strawberries so they can irrigate the plants' root systems and avoid evaporation.

"We also don't have to worry about watering weeds," he said. "It's hard enough to keep up with them as it is without watering them."

Grisdale and Horne hand-weed their garden throughout the season and practice crop rotation, companion planting and other earth-friendly measures to help their small farm flourish.

And flourish it does with hordes of cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, sweet corn, squash and various other fruits and vegetables ready to pick now.

They've decided to extend their hours of business so people can come pick the strawberries before they spoil in the fields and are also selling other produce on site at the farm on Leigh's Bay Road.

They are now open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends and from 5 p.m. to sunset on weekday evenings.

Source:SooToday.com

Strawberries in Greenland?

Strawberries in Greenland?

Thanks to global warming, it’s possible to raise cattle in Greenland for the first time in hundreds of years.

Only 19 cows currently graze on the island, and each of them has a name.
But their numbers could multiply as the climate warms.

Climate change has also substantially lengthened Greenland’s growing season.
“It’s already staying warm until November now,” potato farmer Ferdinand Egede told Der Spiegel.

Rising temperatures have already added two weeks to Greenland’s growing season, which now amounts to 120 days. With up to 20 hours of daylight during the summer in southern Greenland, the additional two weeks make a huge difference.

If the island’s growing season, which now starts in May, begins just two weeks earlier, farmers could even grow apples and strawberries, Der Spiegel noted.

Source: Nunatsiaq News