HARRISON CITY -- When, in spring, the gardens in my neighborhood burst into color, I begin to anticipate strawberries, red and sweet.

Schramm Farms and Orchards in Harrison City, 20 miles east of Pittsburgh, which grows seven varieties of strawberries, estimates the first picking to be June 5 and 6. My friend Gene and I plan to be there.

For us, strawberries mean packing away our winter ways, starting our Saturday morning shopping earlier and traveling farther afield to farms and markets for the good things waiting for us. During the few weeks the strawberries last and on the days the berries look their best, we bring home extra boxes to give to neighbors and friends from whom, over the winter, we've accepted favors.

Because of the freshly made caramel-pecan rolls you can buy at Grandma's Country Oven Bake Shop so conveniently attached to the Schramm produce barn, we bring with us a thermos of black coffee and have an early morning breakfast picnic in the car. (Schramm also sells a large variety of other farm fresh produce and some very nice, rich-flavored, individually wrapped light and dark caramels from California.)

To confirm the availability of strawberries and to get directions: 724-744-7320 or www.schrammfarms.com.

Beginning this spring we have a new stop to make on marketing day. It is Food Glorious Food's Saturday Only Bakery in Highland Park.

I was a little taken aback when proprietor Brad Walter asked me, after I'd ordered one of his partner Tom Hambor's exceptional apple Tarte Tatins just coming out of the oven, if I'd had one of James Kennedy's farm-raised chickens. Did he think I didn't know where to find one of the best chickens in town? Then I remembered that this ebullient fellow, who knows quality and sells quality, is always promoting local purveyors whose products he admires. It was Walter who turned me onto Maturi Bros. (3908 Penn Ave., 412-682-5828), the knife sharpeners who do such a superb job with kitchen knives. Walter could make bread for his Saturday bakery but instead he recommends BreadWorks.

For their Saturday Only Bakery, Walter and Hambor concentrate on candies, cakes, cookies, tarts, pies and pastries, made on the premises. During the week they run a cooking school for both professional and home cooks, and they do catering. In a small space at the front of their pleasant store they offer a line of fine kitchenwares and artifacts.

I especially like it when Basil, the Welsh corgi, is about. I happened to have attended a Valentine Tea and cooking class at Food Glorious Food from which Walter had excused himself to be home to birth this puppy. On Saturdays Basil can sometimes be found fenced into her own little room accepting a chuck under the chin and a finger on which to chew.

Food Glorious Food's Saturday Only Bakery, 5906 Bryant St., Highland Park; 412-363-5330; open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Kennedys' beautiful farm fresh chickens (724-898-2316) are to be found at the year-round East Liberty Farmers' Market Co-op on Rodman and Sheridan streets in East Liberty alongside Home Depot. Although the market operates from 5 a.m. to noon, by 10 a.m. chickens for roasting and grilling are about sold out. With the Kennedys inside the shed are a number of other purveyors, offering dairy, eggs, bedding plants and flowers, plus local farm-raised produce.

Kistaco Farms from Apollo brings in a variety of local fruits and vegetables. I've learned that at Kistaco if something is really extraordinary -- say the blueberries -- the next week you have to return an hour earlier to get more. Shoppers are perceptive and the networking here seems to be excellent.

Shortcake for Strawberries

This takes about half an hour to prepare from start to finish.

• 2 cups flour
  
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
  
• 3 teaspoons sugar plus additional for
  
• sprinkling
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/2 cup butter
  
• 2/3 cup whipping cream

Sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse oatmeal. Stir in cream until dry ingredients are moistened and cling together. Roll out or pat into a circle about 1 inch thick.

Cut into six 2 1/2- to 3-inch circles shaping scraps to make the necessary number. Sprinkle surface with sugar. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet in a 400-degree oven, 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Serve split with strawberries over and between, lightly sugared to accent their sweetness and topped with plenty of heavy cream whipped.