Strawberries.

Next year, can one of you lovelies remind me that TWENTY pounds of strawberries is slightly excessive? 

They had too much fun picking them or rather standing in a field eating berries while I picked them.  We met friends, who thankfully, helped me corral Tate, and still manage to take home two full boxes.  Good friends are an asset in the strawberry picking game, but next year I’m making Dave come along too.

The homegrown strawberry season is so short here, really the best berries are available for a week or sometimes two.  So you have to jump when you get the chance. I mean, you wait all year long to walk out to that delicious smelling field and pluck warm, ripe strawberries right off the vine.   You’re dreaming of shortcakes and pies and jam as you’re pulling the most delectable red berries and putting them into your container.

It’s easy to see how I ended up with so many. 

 

 

  

And then, THEN you get home and have to figure out what to do with all of those berries.

We’ve had strawberry shortcake, strawberries and cream, strawberries over ice cream, strawberries for breakfast, strawberry snacks, strawberries for lunch and strawberry limeaid to wash it all down.  Strawberries are frozen whole in simple syrup.  Strawberries coulis.  Strawberry lemonade.  Strawberry purée. 

And then the freezer jam.  Dear LORD, the jam. 

19- half pint jars of strawberry vanilla jam

12- half pint jars of strawberry jam

15- 4oz jars of balsamic strawberry jam

15- 4oz jars of strawberry vanilla jam

It’s a lot of jam to be sure.  Some is going to our grandmas or friends or our parents.  I’m going to make those fancy vanilla strawberry filled cupcakes for Tate’s birthday again.  And I’m sure midwinter, I’ll be happy to open a jar and have it taste just like summer. 

For now, I’m going to go scrub the red stains out of my hands. 

Again.

 

For my local readers, we pick berries at Johnston’s in Swanton, they have great ‘you pick’ prices {$1.35/pound this year} and the staff are always fantastic telling you where in the field you should look to avoid the areas that have already been picked over.  The girl helping us this year was so sweet, she actually walked out to where we were to tell us that we’d have better luck with bigger berries a few rows over.  We’re going to go back out for blueberries soon too.

Apple Picking.

We took off this weekend for some apple picking with friends.  There were goats and chickens to feed, friends to run with, apples to pluck off the tree and eat right there in the orchard, hayrides, and lots and lots of trekking through acres of trees.  We had a great time, and it is definitely on our list for next fall. 

If it isn’t something you’ve ever done, give it a try.  I know my friends who grew up in the country are rolling their eyes at me, but we never did things like that as a kid.  I think showing Finn where his food comes from will help him make healthy choices in the future.  In just an afternoon of fun, he pulled fruit from the tree, saw eggs that were laid from chickens, saw ears of popping corn, and touched growing pumpkins right in the field.

Do you go apple picking with your family?  Did you as a child?

    

 

Green Beans. Green Kids.

When I was little, my Meme had a patch of green beans right outside her back door.  She also had tomatoes and some herbs and a gorgeous garden full of flowers.  But it was the beans that remained in my mind.  We would go outside with her old plastic collander and pick beans, spending what seemed like forever snapping the ends off.  The novelty of pulling the beans from the plants and eating them at dinner that night never wore off for two little suburban girls.

It was the same thing when we would visit my Aunt Linda and Uncle Jim in California each summer.  They had a huge garden, I remember smelling rosemary for the first time there.  It was the simple lemon tree that stood out though.  We would choose the ripe lemons right off the tree, bring them inside, squeeze the juice and make gallons of lemonade.

With Finn, we do things like strawberry picking and apple picking.  Dave's parents have a large garden and have him help and I use that term loosely.  Mostly he goes out and theives raspberries from their bushes and shovels dirt and watches Grandpa use the tiller.  We pick up fresh produce at the farmer's market and grow herbs and tomatoes.  This year we added strawberry plants and a blueberry bush.  In a year or two, our little lime tree will produce fruit, though it will need to live inside with us in the winter. 

We also added green beans.  They are Finnegan's beans, a gift for his birthday from his friend Jackson.  He sewed the seeds in a little greenhouse-like tray, allowed them to grow for a couple weeks, then we planted them outside.

He has asked us approximately {and this is a conservative guesstimation} 1.5 million times when he could eat his beans over the last couple months... beginning about twelve seconds after they were planted.

Tonight, we were able to pick some and enjoy them for the first time.  The sheer pride on his face as we excitedly gushed about how he grew the beans and picked them, made the meal one of the best we've ever had.  We're looking forward to many many more through the summer.

Do you teach your children about gardening their own food?  I'm interested particularly for those who are in the city or suburbia where farming or growing a large garden might not be commonplace.

WFMW - Reusable Coffee Filters

We are by far NOT the greenest household on the block.  We have old {leaky} windows, we run too many loads of laundry, we keep trying, but we've yet to break our paper towel habit, and until a few weeks ago we didn't have a dishwasher.  We're not perfect.  But we do try to buy local, we take bags to the grocery, we do a little gardening, we compost, and we recycle.  Baby steps.

One baby step that we love is our re-usable coffee filter.  We are a coffee drinking household, a pot, sometimes two each day.  Several years ago we came across a reusable coffee filter and were intrigued.  We haven't looked back. As a highly conservative estimation, we've saved at least 1,000 coffee filters.  So explore the possibilities, won't you?  Sure, it's just a small thing, but small things lead to big things and that works for me!

If you're interested in other tips, check out Works For Me Wednesday over at We Are THAT Family!

Farmer's Market

We're big fans of the farmer's market in our city.  We're there nearly every weekend of the summer when you can find local produce, eggs, meat, and flowers.  During the fall and spring they bring in some stuff from areas that are more temperate weather-wise and we still like to go, it's just different knowing that you're not getting local.  And we ask questions to know more about where our food is coming from.  If it doesn't say local or homegrown, we ask where it came from.  Blueberries from Michigan?  Sure.  Corn from Indiana?  Only if we can't find someone that picked it down the street.  We're willing to spend $3 a dozen for eggs from local farms that allow their chickens to roam.  At our market you can stop and get a locally roasted cup of coffee from Flying Rhino or a cup of incredible (locally grown) raspberry lemonade from Ackerman Berry Farm.  There are also handmade soaps, local honey, baked goods, and candles.  We like knowing that we're supporting our local economy wherever possible.

If you haven't checked out your local farmer's market, I would really encourage you to do so before the summer is through.  And if you're one of the lucky ones that live in a temperate climate, you can check out fresh seasonal produce year round!

Stay tuned for a recipe to use up our quart of FRESH local blackberries from Ackerman Berry Farm! 

House Party!

At the urging of my friend Noelle, I signed up at the House Party website. It is kind of a fun concept. They host a thousand parties on a single date to promote products sponsored by all kinds of companies. You fill out a survey to host whatever parties might interest you and your friends, then you are selected based upon your answers. The first party I signed up was the Arm & Hammer Go Green and I was selected to host! So today, a 22 pound box with all kinds of goodies arrived on my doorstep in preparation for the house party on November 1. I'm so excited about the products they sent that I would have told my friends about them anyway, but now they get to try them for themselves AND take home coupons and other freebies as well. The parties range from kid stuff, to a screening of Sex & the City on dvd, to Barilla pasta, to Xbox games. Go on over and check it out for yourself... and invite me to the party you get to host!

Challenge: 29 Gifts - Day 4

Wow. Day four has been a fun one. You know, I feel like the more I give away, the more I am receiving in return! I know it's supposed to be about the giving, but the receiving is fun too.

Finnegan's friend Max at the zoo!

Dave mailed off some cds for a friend of mine this morning... you should have them tomorrow! I hope they help you as much as they helped me!

Today, I took Finnegan to the zoo for his Strolling With Strollers program. When I walked in to meet my friend Valerie, I ran into a very old friend of mine from high school! Amy and I went to Paris together and it was so much fun connecting and catching up on the last 10 years! Her son Oliver is just a month older than Finn. So, thank you to the universe for bringing me this fabulous gift.




Then, we went to lunch with my mom, Dave, and Annie. I had some business cards printed up for Annie's fiber art and gave her those as a little incentive to keep it up. She is so amazingly talented! My mom bought lunch, so another gift came my way.





And then I mailed off a bunch of photos to my great aunt Margaret. She is my grandma's older sister and at the ripe old age of 90, she LOVES to get pictures and updates about Finnegan.

Then, I got a House Party! I am totally geeked about this. They send you a huge box of stuff. This one is for Arm & Hammer's new Essentials line. The idea is that they have one bottle you re-use over and over and add water and a small little cartridge of plant based concentrate rather than wasting all of that plastic over and over again. I'm excited to try it and for my friends to get lots of freebies and try it too! I have also asked them to bring a canned good with them to pass on to the local food bank to keep the giving going!

So that has been Day 4 and it's only midday! This challenge is making me smile a lot so far.

*Update*

I just got the mail and my awesome friend Emily sent me something! First, I am obsessed with meal planning because I am a great big freak... so that is the explaination for the gift. It has spots for each day's meal and a shopping list. You are so sweet Em! Especially since you have so many other things going on in your life right now. Thank you!

Toddler Trails

Finn and Miss Sophie went on a toddler trails adventure this morning. It was actually a cute little hike and nature walk for the little ones. Our naturalist was very knowledgeable and pointed out some fun things for them to see. We saw chipmunks, squirrels, deer, daddy long legs, a creepy spider, and a caterpillar all in an hour. They also got to carry around acorns, look at what is inside a berry, and smell sassafras leaves.

The great JAM adventure...

So tonight at 6 pm we went berry picking.

As of 11 pm:

1. we drove the roughly 45 minutes home.
2. went to the grocery store.
3. ate dinner.
4. gave Finn a bath (YKW).
5. cleaned and de-stemmed EIGHT pounds of strawberries (me).
6. put Finn down for the night (YKW).
7. went back to the store.
8. flash froze & bagged up 2 quarts of strawberries for smoothies at a later date.






9. blogged Strawberry Fields Forever.
10. canned 16+ jars of strawberry freezer jam!
11. cleaned up the whole mess... well there are a couple rogue dishes to do in the morning.

That, my dear readers, is a full night, let me tell ya. OK. Without further ado, here is the strawberry jam making process. You need to FOLLOW the recipe to a T for which ever pectin you're using. We chose to do freezer jam simply because I have heard it keeps the freshest taste AND we have a wonderful lovely freezer in the basement thanks to the inlaws generous Christmas.

I used Sure-Jell and here is basically what we did...

1. boil the jars (you can use the plastic freezer canning things too)
2. mash the berries (do this in smaller-ish batches) - use 2 cups mashed
3. measure the sugar - use 4 cups
4. mix the berries and the sugar, let that sit for 10 minutes
5. pull jars out of boiling hot water trying not to scald neither yourself or your husband who is only helping out because he loves jam
6. put the pectin and 3/4 cup of water in a pan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly, boil for 1 minute, then pour into the strawberry goo
7. stir goo and pectin mix for 3 minutes
8. jar it up (leave 1/2 inch of space at the top for freezing), put tops & rings on
9. let sit for 24 hours at room temp until set up, then put in the freezer.

It will keep for 1 year frozen, 3 weeks refrigerated. Allow to unthaw in the fridge before eating. We made 3 batches of jam and it's enough for the whole year plus a few jammy gifts for our grandmas and a select few other special peeps.

Strawberry fields forever.

OK, I even puked a little in my mouth at the title of this post. Everyone and their mom has used this title, eh? I really tried coming up with something clever, but it just didn't happen. Anywho, on to the heart of the matter. Here is my nephew Dylan to show you.

WE WENT STRAWBERRY PICKING! Ooooh it was my first time, but not my last. I loved it. Finn loved it. Well, he didn't love it so much as he ate his weight in berries out in the field with Uncle Britt.

We're in the midst of making jam as we speak so I am going to do a separate post for that lovely endeavor... the cans are boiling as I type. We're going to be in jam up to our eyelids tonight my dear readers.

"Yes mam. I'll take EIGHT pounds of strawberries and a cute little boy in the monkey backpack. Can you box it all up for me?"
(That cutie is Jude, my friend Brittany's son, sporting the monkey on his back.)

More pictures to come of our great jam adventure!