3 Great Growers!  Ruth Ann Schutze (and her nearby trusted Friends/Neighbors/Growers help Harvest enough for us), Leticia & Joel Garcia (this years Grand Champion) & Leonard Sanchez (2017 Grand Champion).  Ruth Ann has been Poteet Strawberry Royalty for many years at The Poteet Strawberry Festival.  She was Strawberry Queen in 1976.  Her Sister Linda was Queen in 1966 and Brother Robert was Strawberry King in 1968.  Her Father, Kenneth Hoffman was grower of the year in 1988.  Ruth Ann was  grower of the year 2019 & last year.  We think she is grower of the year - Every Year! (but you know they can’t do that - chuckle).  Quite the Horticulturist. She was Texas A&M’s Dr Leonard Pike’s assistant & was in charge of the Pomology Lab at Texas A&M Horticulture back in the 70’s & 80’s. (Leonard Pike was the famous plant researcher and breeder - famous for many new vegetable varieties including but not limited to: The 1015y Onion,  Granex line of Onions(our Noonday Onions, Mauis and Vidalias are these)  and the “Beta Sweet” maroon Carrot). Ruth Ann was in the middle of all of that.  So tickled to be carrying her Delicious Poteet Strawberries

Our plan is: they will pick ours, specially for us, at full ripeness & fresh on Friday Mornings right before our Flash Garden Pick Up dates.  We will go grab them that Friday afternoon and hustle to get them back to our Flash Gardens fresh for Saturday pick ups (Saturday 11-4  at Lakeway  Ours will be picked ripe.  Most grocery stores can’t get them “Picked Ripe”.  Theirs have to picked at a much earlier stage,  to insure that they get to their distribution warehouses then to their huge stores to still be pretty enough to look good on their shelves for up to a week. And the important thing about Strawberries is… they do NOT continue to ripen and get sweeter once they are picked. (Big Grocery Likely has to pick them green/yellow really - and most likely they have to gas them with ethelyne gas or similar to get them to that beautiful bright red stage that you see in the stores - however they do not get sweeter once they are picked)

 Ours will be so ripe, you will need to eat them asap (chuckle, this is Not a bad thing).  They will have a short shelf life.  To extend that time,  as soon as you get home, rinse yours with water, then submerge them in a bowl full of 1 part White Vinegar and 3 parts water for 3-5 minutes, then drain in a colander & pat dry with paper towels  .  Store them in the Fridge. Preferably in a glass jar with clean paper towels in the bottom.  Change the paper towels daily.