Growing Strawberries and Yummy Strawberry Pie

Three years ago, I started a strawberry bed in our backyard.  I don't have a lot of sunny open spots in my yard so I had Paul rip out some old rose bushes that were against the house and not doing too well.  He then made a small raised bed for me and we filled it with dirt.  I started with five plants and have added a few since then.  The last two years I didn't get too many berries but this year I got LOTS! 

We got at least a bowl full of strawberries every day for a couple of weeks

I think it also helped that Paul surrounded the bed with chicken wire so the birds and critters couldn't steal the berries - this definitely helped a lot!

It may not look pretty, but it's effective!

I wanted to keep my bed organic so I just used a little Blood Meal as fertilizer and I think it did the trick.  Although, I think the vibrant green leaves were a bit tempting to some silly little insects that would try and eat the leaves.  But all in all it did well considering I didn't use anything to control the little pests.

We had plenty of strawberries to eat every night and sometimes we had more than we could eat so I froze them.  I experimented with new recipes like strawberry shortcake, strawberry crepes, strawberries and ice cream, etc.  They were all good but none matched the new strawberry pie recipe I tried.  

Click HERE for the recipe for "IceBox Strawberry Pie" if you're interested.  I got the recipe from Cook's Country after watching them make it on our PBS station one Saturday afternoon. I didn't use their pie crust recipe though - I used my favorite one that I've been using for years.  I got it from an old cookbook that belonged to a family I worked for in college.  

My Favorite Pie Crust

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 t. salt
• 2/3 cup + 2 T. shortening
• 4-5 T. cold water (I use ice water to make sure it's really cold) 

Mix flour and salt.  Cut in shortening a little at a time until crumbly.  Sprinkle in water 1 T. at a time until pie dough forms.  Cover the dough and place it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to make it easier to work with.  Roll out the dough with a rolling pin on a floured surface.  Place in pie plate and bake at 350 degrees until light golden brown (it took around 30 minutes).  This recipe is supposed to make enough for a 2 crust pie and you only need one crust for this recipe but I make the whole thing anyway.  You can freeze the other crust, eat it, or bake it with cinnamon and sugar for a yummy snack!

I LOVE strawberry season and I'm curious to see what my strawberry patch will do next year and what yummy creations I get to try.