10-09-2025, 09:09 PM
How many tons of pollution are the pint of strawberries worth? Could they be grown without that cost
They can. I grew mine on the mainland with about 95% local organic fertilizer, and green manures.
Side note: I grew a few short rows of a 1940’s strawberry variety, Fairfax*. They were small, and turned a darker dull red color within 12 hours of picking. Next to my big shiny bright red berries they looked sad. But a few people would look at them, suspiciously, and ask, what are those like? And I’d reply, try one.
The response was always wide eyes and a big smile. They were the sweetest berries known to man and nobody grew them anymore. Within a few weeks I kept all of them under my market table, the entire supply saved for customers who preordered. When you know, you know.
On Big Island, we’d have to go to Waimea Farmers Market to find local low carbon or organic strawberries, or Costco for shipped in organic.
* I’ve never tried growing Fairfax in Hawaii, but my guess is it would not be easy. It’s an old variety without resistance to various diseases that newer varieties have. The subtropics have plenty of diseases in the soil, and circulating in our warm humid air.
They can. I grew mine on the mainland with about 95% local organic fertilizer, and green manures.
Side note: I grew a few short rows of a 1940’s strawberry variety, Fairfax*. They were small, and turned a darker dull red color within 12 hours of picking. Next to my big shiny bright red berries they looked sad. But a few people would look at them, suspiciously, and ask, what are those like? And I’d reply, try one.
The response was always wide eyes and a big smile. They were the sweetest berries known to man and nobody grew them anymore. Within a few weeks I kept all of them under my market table, the entire supply saved for customers who preordered. When you know, you know.
On Big Island, we’d have to go to Waimea Farmers Market to find local low carbon or organic strawberries, or Costco for shipped in organic.
* I’ve never tried growing Fairfax in Hawaii, but my guess is it would not be easy. It’s an old variety without resistance to various diseases that newer varieties have. The subtropics have plenty of diseases in the soil, and circulating in our warm humid air.