Memories from Toyoura

Our May Farm Boxes feature some of the first strawberries of the year. To celebrate, Katina has shared a special memory from her time in Japan with Chef Kyle and their young family. Read on below and to pre-order your SingleThread Farm Box for pick-up on Saturday May 21st or May 28th, visit our Tock page.

Strawberry season takes me back to a tiny fishing village called Toyoura in the northern island of Japan where we raised our young family. The town of Toyoura faces volcanic Uchiura Bay at the edge of the North Pacific Ocean and is famous for hotate and ichigo (scallops and strawberries). It is here my love of agriculture began to take shape with the sweet perfection of a single strawberry.

Memories of golden summer days and sticky strawberry smiles on our daughters' faces warm my heart to no end. Every year I strive to grow strawberries as sweet, juicy, and desirable as the strawberries of Toyoura. Perhaps it's the challenge of trying to crack the Japanese farming code of growing them so undeniably perfectly. Or more likely, it's a quest fueled by nostalgia to transport myself back to that time on the island where I learned the grace of seasonality, an unwavering love of agriculture, and unlocked the person I was meant to be. I hope these strawberries bring you so much joy.

With love, Katina