Dawning of the age of asparagus

Green are the shoots of asparagus, planted in long rows next to patches of strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, that will ripen through the summer months.

Green are the shoots that reach each day for the blue sky, which sets off the barn painted a vibrant red three years ago when the farm was started.

And once the green has reached its peak, it’s cut close to the ground, which is already rich in golden straw.

Silver is the color of the sharpest knives, which cut the green from the earth.

Deanna Pickering clutches the ripe asparagus — long, slender and succulent — and brings it to her mouth. This, she says, is quality control.

This is also the first year Pick-n-Pick is open for business. Deanna and her husband, Sam, want to be sure they are growing good products, so in the week before the picking season begins, they test the asparagus on their 10-acre farm.

“You sample as you go along. We expect people will have a taste or two,” Deanna says.

She reflects on her time at other farms where you can pick fresh produce and decides that she can’t be a hypocrite — people, she knows, will eat. She and Sam would go out every summer for fresh strawberries to a farm in Fayette that was close to their home in Pierpont. When that farm went up for sale, Deanna thought it would be a good project to work on once Sam retired.

Three years of soil restoration and plant propagation later, they are open for picking. Deanna is happy to invite some highway help with the daily task of harvesting asparagus.

“We may have bitten off more than we can chew,” she adds, laughing and crunching through another stick of green.