Salty Local Strawberries

Strawberry season is here and the locals are hanging out their strawberry signs and I made my first stop this week to pick up a couple boxes. Two weeks ago, I splurged at the Broad Street Market in Harrisburg and purchased North Carolina berries -- they were $3.75 a quart. In the back of my mind I was thinking, that's kind of expensive. This week, the local farm where I normally get the out-of-this-world berries, soaked me $4.00 a quart. I was hesitant, but bought them anyway - 5 boxes becauses I wanted to try my hand at drying them. Today, I decided, that's too much and unless I find a cheaper way to get them (pick my own at the fruit farm 1.5 miles away from me??? More on that if I do), I'm not getting any more. Why are they so much? $4.00 is really out of hand -- and that's not even for organic. I can't imagine what a quart of organic strawberries cost. To be honest, I've never even seen organic strawberries. Possibly its because there are so few organic plant growers (the plants must also be organic in order for a grower to sell certified organic berries). Hubby put the bug in my ear -- why pay that? Next year, I'll have all I want - for free - from the backyard. Those 100 strawberry plants that went into the backyard 2 months ago and very, very happy in their new home and will show their appreciation to me next year. So this year I'm saving my money on strawberries and spending it elsewhere. I'll await wild black raspberry and wild blueberry time and pick for free until my heart is content! It's only about a month away -- and wild black raspberries are in the FRONT yard - more than I've ever seen (they like the rain). It's nice to not have to travel too far.