Strawberry Pickin'

Saturday morning we packed into the car and headed to the you-pick. With it being Easter weekend things were a bit chaotic and I probably should have waited until this coming weekend, but Friday was my birthday and the only thing I wanted was to go pick strawberries. So that is what we did! We picked 4 gallons, one of them was for my in-laws. Liam didn't know what to think about all of those red things. I am still paranoid about him being exposed to pesticides so we brought soap and water to wash up right there at the field before touching him.

Saturday evening we celebrated Easter at Brad's parents with his brothers and their families. It was fun. I really enjoy us all getting together on the holidays. Sunday should have been reserved for processing strawberries, but alas, it was a lazy day and I was overwhelmed by the mess that had overtaken the house. That tends to happen if I'm not constantly on top of cleaning, like when doing a lot of baking and cooking for Easter.

Liam and I managed to catch some kind of sickness from the kids on Saturday. The last 2 night have been rough. No sleep at all. But the strawberries had to be dealt with regardless, so that is what I spent today doing. It went faster and easier than I had expected. I was dreading it because I really don't feel well and Liam needs lots of snuggle time when he doesn't feel well.

All done! With 3 gallons of berries I managed to freeze 2 trays of mashed berries for Liam to add to his oatmeal or bananas. I made 2 batches of jam. The first is pepper jam made with jalapenos I chopped and froze last summer. The second was a low sugar plain jam. I believe I got 6 pints and 3 half pints of the pepper jam and 5.5 pints of the plain. Why is it that jam recipes never have processing time for pints? Half pints just seem so... small. I have already tested the pepper jam with tortillas. MmMmMmM! I will have no problem making sure it gets eaten. I hope the plain jam gets eaten too. I still have somewhere around 10 pint and 10 half pints of blueberry jam left from last year that nobody seems interested in. I hate things going to waste! I need to find a recipe that I could use it for I guess. The blueberry pepper jam didn't have that problem. I love pepper jam! It helps that it clears my sinuses too. I hope Liam and I get rid of this crud soon.

Brad picking berries with rows and rows of little tomato plants in the background.

Even the cool teenager got in on the berry picking, although this year it was against his will
and he was just trying to get it done so we could go home. He will appreciate the memories
someday...