We be jammin'!

I even played a little Bob Marley while I was jammin'! Today was another berry day. This weekend is the big Pungo Strawberry Festival, which is my signal to get all this stuff done prior to the crowds and while we still "get our pick" of the available berries! Pungo is known for it's strawberries, among other berries and come Friday there won't be a parking spot within a mile of the event. So armed with a child helper we headed out to the fields one last time to finish up our berry preserving.

Today's haul of about 16 quarts, or 12-13 lbs. Added to

our 15 lbs from a couple of weeks ago brings our strawberry total this year to almost 30 lbs!! See why I leave this crop to the local farmers?

Dropped Finn off at preschool and rushed home to begin, I have 2 hrs, 15 mins of alone time!

First was another batch of freezer jam to add to my stash. I officially have enough jam for the next 12 months, if you think the amount of strawberries we pick seems excessive, remember that I have 2 boys in school - that equals alot of PB&J!

Next up was smashed berries for fruit leather. I will be making this for the next few days, some in the oven and some in the dehydrator depending on which isn't full at the time. I smashed them all at the same time and just store them in the fridge with a little lemon juice for freshness, and ladle it out on sheets for each sucessive batch so I only make one mess. I have no sugar in my fruit, but I think I may add a little local honey to one batch per Finn's request.

One large batch of dehydrated sliced strawberries. These are great snacks and I think I may put some in Kate's Homemade Granola Recipe to send out to the ship! Once dehydrated, they store all year in the freezer, although they don't last that long unless I hide them!

Net result: 14 jars freezer jam, 5 trays dried sliced berries, 5 trays fruit leather, and a bunch left for fresh eatin'!

I finished processing them all in 2 hrs and 5 minutes... just in enough time to pick strawberry bits off of my face before going back to preschool for pickup, LOL! (Yes, I'm that mom who peels in the parking lot with farmers overalls and flip flops covered in bits of dirt and sweat!) This may be embarassing for the kids in a few years, but it's not a problem yet!

Funny I'm not sick of them yet... I am already thinking maybe I should get just one more load of berries....

At least this weekend I can enjoy the Strawberry Festival without having to worry about my berries going bad in the parked car!

Sweet Strawberry Dreams to those of you who don't have them yet... your time is coming, soon!

Jealous Much?

Maybe just today?

STRAWBERRY TIME!

Yesterday after school the kids and I went to go pick our first batch of strawberries out at one of the local fields. Our area is known for delicious strawberries so this is one thing that I had decided to leave to the local farms, thus freeing up my beds to produce other things the rest of the year. Plus, the kids love to go pick!

Finn doing a quality check

Our haul from yesterday includes all these berries plus a dozen farm eggs for $20, not too bad!

Next on the list was making jam, but we needed a quick boost of energy first - in the form of what else? - strawberries and eggs! Nothing beats eggs for a quick dinner and the strawberries were less than an hour old here, still warmed by the sun. Of course hubby made the eggs which means although delicious, he fried them in butter diner-style so they weren't tipping the healthy scale tonight!

First batch of freezer jam ready to be stored. I will make another batch today, but what should I do with the rest of those berries?

Can you see where this is going?...

I plan on sending the kids back out this weekend with daddy to pick another batch so I can freeze whole berries for use in smoothies, etc later in the year. We are entertaining both Friday and Saturday evening this weekend so I know I will not have enough left over after the weekend for freezing!

If my posts become scatterbrained in the next week or so, it's because hubby is deploying soon and I have been in denial up to the past weekend, and we are now going crazy with chores, entertaining, cramming "family activities" in, and dealing with assorted military gear and paraphenelia being strewn all over the house as it makes its way into seabags. Congrats to me, I have been doing this for many years now, and this is the first year I successfully managed to completely ignore the upcoming deployment! This is a good thing, any military spouse will tell you that before and after deployment is the worst times in a marriage, there is bickering, complete tantrums, and just mayhem in general, the only way to avoid it is to truly ignore the event. There is no such thing as being 100% prepared, so there is no reason in my book to worry daily over his deployment date and begin the marital and family strife until the last minute! Every deployment for the kids gets harder for them as they get older and really need their dad more. I know they will be fine, but will just take a little extra TLC and cultivation - good thing gardeners know how to do that!