Red Ripe Strawberry

RJ has always liked strawberries.

But after we read this book about a mouse picking, hiding, and finally eating a strawberry he calls them "red, ripe, strawberry" every time.  It's pretty cute.

So we didn't get our garden planted with seeds due to the crazy weather and unexpected events in May.

So we just went and bought small plants with the whole family.  Rhett suggested a strawberry plant and I said I wasn't planning on it, in my memories growing up garden strawberries were always gross.  But little RJ and Rhett both wanted it and we bought this larger strawberry plant.  It had little baby green strawberries starting on it, so it was the only plant we got that RJ could recognize what it would grow.

He loved the plant.  We didn't plant them right off, but just put all our plants in the garage for the night.  He kissed the plant and said: "goodnight red ripe strawberry" and put it on the table.  I was surprised he was so attached to a strawberry plant.

But it became his baby.

The next morning he woke me up and immediately told me we had to go plant his red ripe strawberry.

So we got it settled in the back yard and he gave it a drink with the watering can.

Later that afternoon he ran out and checked the plant and came to me to ask why it wasn't red yet.  I told him it takes lots of days to grow a red, ripe, strawberry.

So each morning we go and check his strawberries and he likes to give them a drink of water.

But this morning one was finally ready.

He was really excited, despite the fake smile face. 

We washed it off and I was curious to see if he'd like it, thinking it might be sour. 

But he seemed to like it. 

Pretty darn good. 

Hopefully he'll like gardening.  He helped me plant corn the other day and I was digging the little holes and he was putting the kernel seeds in.  But a few got a whole chubby handful of seeds and he spilled a bunch in the watering trench.  So we'll see how the corn ends up.  Last year he tromped on a ton of my plants, but maybe he's better and can understand now.