Strawberries Field

   One of the reunion attendees reported she had picked 50 quarts of strawberries, for making jam, pies, etc.  I don't know whether it was at Hand Farm or Strawberry Acres. It reminded me that as yet I hadn't had any seasonal strawberries this year, which are the only ones worth buying, as far as I'm concerned.  The last two packs of California strawberries I bought went in the garbage. They looked fine but were pithy and dry.   Time was when the local supermarkets would carry fresh strawberries, but I haven't seen any this year.  I believe the growers do not want to share any of the goldmine that the strawberries represent.
  Since I was in the general area yesterday, I drove to Hand Melon.  Though the people I'd talked to said they were selling for $5.00 a "basket," the price on that Sunday was now $5.75, based, I presume, on whatever the traffic would bear.  The customers were streaming in.  A notice was posted saying you could pick your own for $2.75 per pound.
    Now I didn't care what the price was that day.  I was going to buy strawberries.  And I was not in the mood to pick my own.  But I couldn't help but wonder.  Since a pint equals a pound, the pick-your-own berries would be $5.50 per quart.  The berries I bought were in a blue cardboard package, with no mention of the size.  I weighed the container, with unhulled strawberries, and it weighed a pound and a half.  Who would know strawberries would come in a pint and a half container.  So I paid $5.75 for 1 1/2 pints.  I calculate the price to pick a pint and a half would be about $4.12.
     Such ambiguity:   a pound,  a pint, a quart, a container in between those 2 sizes.
     The berries I bought taste pretty good, but they are very small, so a lot of prep time, all that hulling.