Celebrate Green Blog

The first local strawberries have begun to show up in the past week at the farmers market and even the grocery store. Strawberries are one of those fruits that are infinitely better when eaten fresh. That means that during the majority of the year when strawberries are shipped from hundreds of miles away, they are pretty tasteless.

These delicious berries that are high in vitamin C and low in calories - a whole cup has only 55 calories - get celebrated big time during May. It’s officially National Strawberry Month, and towards the end of May and the beginning of June you can find strawberry festivals across the country.

What are the best sources of local strawberries? You can grow your own, of course. I’ve never chosen to do that, though, because of the huge population of critters in my backyard. I know that the birds, rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels and gophers would treat any strawberry patch I grew as a buffet.

Getting strawberries from a local farm is the next best thing to growing them yourself. Here are a few resources to help you out.

• Pick Your Own - It’s a lot of fun to head out into a farm field and pick your own strawberries right from the plants. It doesn’t get any fresher than that. This website will guide you to farms where you can pick your own strawberries and lots more.
• Farmers Markets - Find a farmers market near you where you can get strawberries that were picked just a few hours ago. Be sure to go to the market early if it’s the beginning of strawberry season or you might find them all gone by the time you get there.
• Roadside Farm Stands - I can’t find one single source that points you to farm stands across the country, but if you type in your state’s name and the words “roadside farm stands” into a search engine, you’ll be able to find one near you. These stands are often located right by the farms themselves.
• Strawberry Festivals - Strawberry Festivals range from small church gatherings where shortcake is the main attraction to full fledged carnivals with rides and Strawberry Queens.

What are you going to do with all those strawberries once you have them? Well, I would suggest first pureeing a bunch and freezing it for daquiries later on in the summer when they are no longer available. Then, take some more strawberries and make these dessert bars that kids love as much as cereal bars but have more wholesome ingredients than the boxed bars.

This recipe is slightly adapted from a recipe at the Land ‘O Lakes website. Use organic or sustainably farmed ingredients where you can afford them - particularly with the strawberries. On the Environmental Working Groups Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides strawberries rank at #3 for pesticide residue. If you’re buying local, ask the farmer about the farming methods. They may be farmed very naturally and sustainably, but the farmer can’t say they are organic unless the USDA approval has been given.

• 1 ½ cups fresh or frozen unsweetened rhubarb, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 ½ cups sliced fresh strawberries
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 tbsp cornstarch

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• ¾ cup butter softened
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt

1. Combine strawberries, rhubarb and lemon in a saucepan and cook on medium heat for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally
2. Add sugar and cornstarch to fruit mixture, bring to boil, and allow to boil a minute or two until sauce thickens
3. While the strawberry mixture is cooking, combine the crust ingredients and mix with electric mixer until the mixture resembles course crumbs – it will be very dry
4. Reserve 1 ½ cups of crust mixture and pat down the rest of the crust mixture into a 9×13 pan that has been sprayed with non-stick or greased.
5. Spread fruit mixture over bottom crust
6. Sprinkle the rest of crust mixture evenly over the top
7. Bake in a 350° oven for 30 – 35 minutes until golden brown
8. Cool completely

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Robin Shreeves didn’t particularly like to cook until she started paying attention to how the food she feeds her family affects the environment. Once she started experimenting with fresh, organic and local foods, her outlook on food and cooking changed dramatically. When she’s not writing the eco-friendly food blog for Mother Nature Network or attending to her two personal blogs A Little Greener Every Day and South Jersey Locavore , she can often be found in the kitchen, playing with the food that she prepares for her husband and two boys.