The best strawberries come from Guatemala

As I dig through the worms in the compost, visit organic farms, or listen to our technical trainer talk about the problems facing farmers in Guatemala, I can’t help but smile at the path my life is taking.

“Daaaaaad, I don’t wanna pick the tomatoes! Why can’t we just buy them like everyone else? Ugh, why do I have to bring all this junk to the compost pile? It smells!” Welcome to my childhood. We were not farmers but both of my parents had a hearty appreciation for nature and agriculture. I was involved with 4-H since birth and my parents were club leaders. I hated it.

By the time I became a teenager and my parents lost their desire to force me to do things, I left the gardening to my dad and the compost pile to the animals in the backyard. In college, all of my food came from New York Pizzeria, affectionately called, “Slices,” because of their motto, “Slices Come Plain Only.” The only tomatoes I saw were in sauce form in giant containers. After college, trips to the grocery store became a monthly (if even) event, so if it couldn’t last in the refrigerator, it didn’t go in the cart.

Last week, I had strawberries that blew my mind, or more appropriately, my taste buds. It could have been because they were organic, or the specks of dirt that accompany freshly picked strawberries, or because I was able to sift through the plants and pluck only the ones that were so red I knew they would stain my hands. Whatever it was, eating Giant brand strawberries after that would be like giving grape juice to a wine connoisseur. I’ll forever be a strawberry snob.

There are still many times, particularly when talking about double-digging garden rows or proper rotation of crops, that I wish I could call my dad and ask him why he, or anyone really, ever found this stuff interesting. But there are others, like at the strawberry patch or when I found myself having a lot of fun digging worms out of our compost for my fellow volunteers, when I think of him and smile. Darn him, I think, he got me to like agriculture, despite my best efforts. He’d be so proud of himself.