Minnesota, in addition to being the land of lakes, is also the land of pie. No one here is shy about their love of pie. It is not frowned upon to eat pie (and ice cream) after dinner every night. It is my kind of place.

In the town of Marine on St. Croix, there is an ice cream shop, a bar, a pizza place, a lovely little coffee shop which is currently providing me with Wi-Fi…but no pie store. HMMMMMM. I sense a summer business opportunity.

I made a second pie last week, in addition to the All-Rhubarb…a pie that does not “count” in an official sense on this blog. It was an All-Strawberry Pie, and two years ago I was baking a few of them with no measuring spoons and a beer bottle for a rolling pin at my friends Sara, Maggie, and Emily’s cottage. We were celebrating Emily’s upcoming wedding and my 22nd birthday and Levi’s 23rd birthday and our first wedding anniversary and learning how to dance on the rooftop of the boathouse.

This time, we picked the strawberries (small, almost wild-looking) from a nearby organic farm. Strawberry season is almost over in Minnesota now, and my cousin Matt and my Aunt Sarah and I spent about half an hour searching for the last berries. It was worth it.

The recipe calls for a top crust. This time I used a crumb topping. I learned for the second time that strawberry pies BOIL OVER LIKE CRAZY. Be prepared–use a cookie sheet underneath. In most fruit pies I put at least 5 cups of fruit, but this one only calls for 4. And it’s still a total mess. Yet, delicious.

I have to include a picture of one of my Grandmother’s pies, so I present to you a Marie Sweeny Raspberry Pie. I learned on this trip that there is one very small difference between Grandmother’s crust and Ken’s Basic Flaky crust. But I’m not sure if I’m ready to divulge secrets like that for the world to read. All you need to know is that Marie Sweeny makes a top-notch pie.