The Dog Days of Spring April 3, 2006

It must be spring because my son had his first little league game. An hour into the game, as tired kids slumped at their positions, the second to last batter hit a ball between first and second base. It rolled into the outfield, and four seven-year-old boys and one girl scampered to it. Seconds before they converged in a pile on, a black poodle jumped out of the stands, galloped to the ball, picked it up in its mouth and took off into the outfield. Gloves flew into the air, and all the kids raced from their positions, draining toward center field in a wobbly single file line that whipped back and forth behind the weaving and dodging pooch. Ten minutes later, seven-year-olds littered the outfield like exhausted snow angels. The dog wagged his tail as the coaches tried to coax it to drop the ball.

Spring is kind of like that in the fruit world. Out of all the seasons, spring presents the least amount of fresh California-grown fruit. March & April are the budding months for summer fruit. Our buyer (Dan) spends a great deal of time bird-dogging – talking with suppliers to find exciting and high-quality product. Sometimes, it feels like he’s chasing after a dog that just won’t let him catch up. For example, each week that we progress into April, we will lose citrus varieties (citrus is a winter crop). April is also a “gap” month for grapes – the southern hemisphere supply can be hit or miss at this time of year, and we won’t see fresh northern hemisphere grapes until we get into May.

What are the spring changes?

To counter some of the change, we are trying to mix the crate up a bit. This week we’ve put blackberries into the staples +2, Horn of Plenty and Harvest Flyer crates. We’d love your feedback on the nuts, is it something you like? Strawberries are, of course, “the” spring berry but the rain last week knocked out our supplier. As we move into April, we will keep our fingers crossed for less rain so that we can bring you organic strawberries.

Did you know that blackberries are part of the caneberry family? Caneberries are a group of berries that grow in the form of long thin, thorny stalks or canes. While blueberries are true berries (one flower, one ovary, one fruit), caneberries and strawberries are actually multiple fruits that develop from multiple ovaries on one flower. Technically, each tiny segment of a raspberry or blackberry is a complete stone fruit.

Enjoy and be fruitful! – Chris Mittelstaedt chiefbanana@fruitguys.com