The Strawberry Theory

I was out this morning picking strawberries for breakfast when it occurred to me that my small patch offers a valuable lesson. Based on the KISS theory (Keep It Simple Stupid), I am developing what I call the Strawberry Theory. Mind you, I am developing it as I write and I came up with it over a cup of coffee, a handful of ripe fresh-picked berries, and a cool moist NM spring morning. Briefly stated, the theory says: If it’s difficult, you’re doing it wrong.

When I look at the instructions for planting, propagating, and harvesting strawberries, I find pages addressing proper spacing, watering, and planting depth techniques. A typical entry reads

“…most gardeners set plants 2-3 ft. apart in rows 4-5ft. apart, let runners fill in until plants are 7-10 in. apart, then keep additional runners pinched off. Keep the rows 20-30 in. wide. “

Huh? How did strawberries ever survive without us? And don’t get me started about adjusting the pH! If it’s that difficult, you’re doing it wrong! For my own patch, I was given three plants which I stuck in the ground and watered. That’s it. Two years later I have a 10’ x 10’ patch that produces well enough to fill my early morning stomach every couple of days. I don’t see any difficulty in that. I don’t see any reason to complicate a process that has worked successfully on its own for millennia.

I am painfully aware that everything in life will not adhere to the strawberry theory. It takes timing, effort, creativity, and finesse to deal with a day. Just getting a half hour of uninterrupted face time with my wife is a three day endeavor it seems. In the garden, there is always a pest to fend off, the heat or the hail to prepare for. My kids love to pull weeds but can’t tell a goathead from a tomato.

But at work, I’ve hit that groove where it’s a safe haven. It must be the combination of fresh air, ingested microbes, and good customers. The enthusiasm of most customers can’t help but buoy me out of the desiccative denseness of daily life. I am surprised when I get bombarded daily by exasperated newcomers to the gardening scene who ask incredulously “That’s it? I don’t have to add blood meal, bone meal, vermiculite, fertilizer ever third day unless there’s a tornado in Iowa?” or some such. I try to calmly explain that the soils here in NM are pretty good, only lacking in organic material. A little addition of compost is really all you need to grow a luscious crop of berries.

I can’t help but wonder if I took a few lessons from the garden, though, if my life outside of work wouldn’t fit somehow better into the theory.