{"id":3419,"date":"2018-07-21T21:26:18","date_gmt":"2018-07-22T02:26:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/?p=3419"},"modified":"2019-02-18T10:41:02","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T16:41:02","slug":"ozark-strawberries-by-dale-grubaugh-with-art-by-lydia-hoskins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/2018\/07\/21\/ozark-strawberries-by-dale-grubaugh-with-art-by-lydia-hoskins\/","title":{"rendered":"Ozark Strawberries by Dale Grubaugh with art by Lydia Hoskins"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Original artwork by Lydia Hoskins.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ozark Strawberries<\/h1>\n

by Dale Grubaugh<\/strong><\/p>\n

These Ozark Hills can sure produce some mighty fine vittles. Blackberries, dewberries, gooseberries, huckleberries and strawberries. All of these berries grow wild \u2019round the Ozarks. Most, except for the dewberry, have been tamed. But none have been tamed like the strawberry.<\/p>\n

The wild strawberry, sometimes called squaw berry, can still be found if ya know where to look. I have found a few patches of wild strawberries in my day. And thought I had struck gold when I did, \u2018cause there ain\u2019t a sweeter strawberry than a wild one. But because they are small and not heavy bearin\u2019, most folks prefer tame strawberries.<\/p>\n

There was a time when strawberries were a major cash crop for a lot of folks in the Ozarks. For a few folks, they still are today. There\u2019s some folks over \u2018round Billings, Missouri, that have a nice pickin\u2019 patch. And, I hear tell of pickin\u2019 patches down round Leslie, Arkansas.<\/p>\n

The soil bein\u2019 thin and rocky like it is is a good match for strawberry growin\u2019. The roots of the strawberry plant run shallow so they don\u2019t need deep soil. And except for an occassional weedin\u2019 and trainin\u2019 of the runners (if ya want to keep the strawberries in rows), they don\u2019t take a lot of tending. Which is mighty good.<\/p>\n

Saves more time for important stuff like fishin\u2019 and restin\u2019.<\/p>\n

However, when the strawberries are ripe, there\u2019s no time to waste. They gotta be picked. Pickin\u2019 strawberries can be a chore. It ain\u2019t like pickin berries that grow on bushes where you can stand up to pick. No sir, ya gotta bend over and pick strawberries \u2019cause they grow so close to the ground. But, chore or not, the reward is mighty worth the effort.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s lots of ways to enjoy strawberries. The best way is to eat \u2019em fresh. Now, fresh can mean strawberry pie, strawberries-and-cream, or my favorite, strawberry shortcake. But when I say shortcake I don\u2019t mean that spongy stuff ya get at the store.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m talkin about honest-to-goodness-baked-in-yer-own-oven shortcake. Those of you who have eaten real shortcake know what I\u2019m talkin about. It\u2019s mighty-like a great big biscuit.<\/p>\n

Now you take and slice that shortcake into two layers. Butter the bottom layer and ladle on a heapin\u2019 of fresh sliced strawberries that you\u2019ve let set in sugar for a while. Then you top that with a slatherin\u2019 of real whipped cream that you\u2019ve whipped yourself. Put the top back on and slather on some more whipped cream. Then cover that with the remaining strawberries. Now folks, that\u2019s eatin\u2019!<\/p>\n

Keepin\u2019 strawberries for winter can be done. You can freeze them or make the strawberries into jam or jelly.<\/p>\n

I like to make freezer jam. My youngin\u2019s think it\u2019s the best strawberry jam there is. And believe me now, once you\u2019ve had homemade strawberry jam you\u2019ll swear off that store bought stuff fer good.<\/p>\n

However you like yer strawberries, try pickin\u2019 a few yourself. It will help you appreciate this wonderful berry and give you greater appreciation for the way folks have made \u2014 and are makin\u2019 \u2014 a livin here in the Ozarks.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”3425″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Original artwork by Lydia Hoskins. Ozark Strawberries by Dale Grubaugh These Ozark Hills can sure produce some mighty fine vittles. Blackberries, dewberries, gooseberries, huckleberries and strawberries. All of these berries grow wild \u2019round the Ozarks. Most, except for the dewberry, have been tamed. But none have been tamed like the strawberry. The wild strawberry,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[937,529,581,957],"tags":[537,909,422,423,424],"class_list":["post-3419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ozarkwriters","category-sotoart","category-sotofeature","category-sotoevent","tag-dale-grubaugh","tag-elias-tucker","tag-lydia-hoskins","tag-ozark-strawberries","tag-strawberry-shortcake","category-937","category-529","category-581","category-957","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3419"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3426,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3419\/revisions\/3426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}