A lesson in bad writing

Hi everyone,

I’ll use yesterday’s post as an example of bad writing or, more accurately, shoddy preparation. I showed you pictures of small red berries that grow in our grass every year. I finally looked them up but only one source. The picture I saw looked like the berries in our yard, and I found them by asking online for “small, wild strawberries.” The pictures matched so I got on with my post.

Later I heard from my friend and colleague, SANDY ASHER, who sent a video about a similar looking berry commonly known as the mock berry or snake berry. The narrator explained that these two plants are very different but, fortunately, the snake berry is harmless though rather tasteless. I went back to my post and added the correction.

JANINE CLARK-BARRY warned me to be cautious about what I put in my mouth because some little red berries can be hard on the digestive track. Still later, JEFF HARRISON dug more deeply into the matter and showed me that not all snake berries are safe to eat and some are rather toxic.

This morning I spent a little more time and read about the five basic kinds of mock or snake berries. The bad ones don’t look like strawberries. They are smooth and not necessarily red. So the one in my yard is a harmless snake berry. SANDY HARRISON, the adventurous one in our group, bit into one yesterday and spit it out because she didn’t like the taste, but it wasn’t poisonous. There are ways to tell the difference between wild strawberries and these harmless mock berries. The real thing droops on the plant, the fake one sticks up. The blossoms are white on the real thing, yellow on the mock one Meanwhile, others who commented on my picture recounted how they ate and enjoyed these little red berries — presumably the true strawberry kind — when they were kids growing up in various parts of the country.

This is a good example of how a careless writer can lead his readers astray. Never, never, never take anything for granted and report on it as though you had checked into it when you haven’t. This was “only” a blog post and some mornings I am in a hurry to move into my day. But it’s not an acceptable excuse. I apologize.

Living off the land

SPECIAL NOTE ABOUT TODAY’S POST. THANKS TO SANDY ASHER FOR POINTING OUT THAT WHAT I’VE DISCUSSED BELOW AS WILD STRAWBERRIES ARE ACTUALLY CALLED SNAKE BERRIES, AN UNRELATED BERRY THAT IS SAFE TO EAT BUT TASTES NOTHING LIKE A STRAWBERRY. THANK YOU, SANDY!

Hi everyone,

Do tiny strawberries grow wild in the grass in your lawn like they do in ours? We have a bumper crop this year, growing in small patches scattered here and there. I’ve never bothered to Google them but I finally did. Turns out you can eat them. They’re supposed to be sweet and juicy like their bigger cousins, just smaller. I think I’m going to pick a few and try them, maybe in a smoothie.

I make my smoothies by starting with the blender half-full of ice cubes, to which I add about half a glass of milk and maybe a splash of cream. I use an individual serving of yogurt, one banana, a tablespoon or so of chocolate syrup, two or three scoops of ice cream, and a handful of berries. We usually have blueberries in the fridge but I also like strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries when we have them. So I’m thinking that miniature strawberries from our yard should be just fine. Alcohol is optional but I tend to pour in two or three ounces of vodka and a splash of Kalua. My recipe serves two in large glasses with half a glass or so leftover for my seconds because Sandy can never hold more than one glass. We’re too full to eat for hours and sometimes a late afternoon smoothie leads to a popcorn dinner. I’ll let you know how it turns out.