This year strawberry season came very late. With all of the late frosts, major storms and flooding, our CSA had only a portion of their strawberry fields make it through. Sunday was our CSA u-pick - and it was surprisingly a cool and windy day. That meant happy boys (and no mosquitoes)!
I am not sure why, but last year our u-pick was TOUGH - literally hundreds of stinging nettles, rashes up our arms, and the boys giving up to sit at the side and watch. Perhaps due to the straw mulch or cooler temps, there were really no weeds this year. It was pleasant and the boys could help - and we didn't need to wear our gloves! Very nice.
The boys spent part of the time helping, and part of the time at the end of our row snuggling under the blanket to warm up. It felt more like October than almost July!
We brought home just over 20 pounds of strawberries. We spent the rest of the day rinsing, cutting, prepping, storing. We made 10 pints of freezer jam, 5 quarts of chunky desert topping (great over pancakes or pound cake), and put 10 1-gallon bags of strawberries in our freezer for baking/smoothies. We also have a few pounds from our CSA box this week for fresh eating. Yum!
A lot of work, but well worth it!
10 comments:
They look delicious!
Yummy jam.....I want to make some! I just don't want to pick any berries. I'm lazy!! lol...
Wow! 20 pounds! And I thought I had a big day coring 5 pounds. The cool weather was lovely for picking though, wasn't it?
All that hard work will definitely be worth it. Those strawberries, and the jam are so pretty!
yum...yum...yum...i miss picking strawberries...not too many fields here! 20#'s that is a lot o' strawberries...but for sure will be appreciated in the winter months!!
Oh, my, how that last picture makes me miss my grandma's strawberry jam. Half of her backyard in Illinois was garden, and a quarter of that was strawberries. There were also grape vines over the fence and fruit trees on the other half of the yard! We used to say that grandma didn't have a lawn, she had her outdoor pantry!
Anyway, this is long and round-about way of saying how good your jams look!
Incredible Harvest! I feel like I can smell the strawberry jam cooking. It will be so wonderful to eat those strawberries in the winter and the boys will share the memory of collecting them with you.
Looks like a lot of fun! And yummy goodness for the winter ahead!
Yay!
OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yum
Jen
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