Strawberry Season
On a day in May, when the strawberries were ripe, we all went over to my parents’ house to their strawberry patch.
We picked…
…and we picked…
…and we picked…
…until we found all the ripe ones, and the sun was setting lower and lower.
We checked out everything growing in the greenhouse. We opened some pea pods and ate fresh, raw peas. Dad helped us pick some to take home (and we ate those for lunch the following day).
Then we went back to the house to enjoy my dad’s homemade ice cream with strawberry sauce drizzled on top. It was seriously delicious.
The next afternoon (yesterday) I had the pleasant task of canning some of the abundance. I waited until naptime, when it was quiet and peaceful in the kitchen. Kitchen bliss.
In addition to what I canned, I had some leftover that I put in the fridge to enjoy now. I’m thinking homemade bread with butter and strawberry jam for breakfast.
While I was still in the kitchen, the children brought in some strawberries from our own plants (just a few), and also some radishes from the garden. It’s such a pleasure to have homegrown fruit and vegetables again.
Inviting you the Carnival of Home Preserving on my blog today and every Friday. Hope to see you there. Laura Williams’ Musings http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com
Thanks for inviting me, Laura!
Hi Joy! My name is Anne and I found you through the barn hop. Seems we have a few things in common and I look forward to exploring more of your blog. Love for you to pop over to my blog Life on the Funny Farm sometime to say hi. I'm at http://annesfunnyfarm.blogspot.com. Have a good one!
Hi Anne! Thank you so much for visiting. I'll be sure to visit your blog soon!
nice post thanks for sharing…looking for to visit more…blessings..
Thank you so much for visiting!
Our strawberries are a week or so a way from being ready! I love Spring! I love Strawberries!
I use Pomona's pectin too! Great stuff! Can't wait to do some more canning etc…
Deanna
I love spring, too! I do wish it would stay a bit cooler here for awhile yet, but it's supposed to be almost 90 tomorrow, with high humidity. 🙂
This was my first time using the Pomona's, and I was so happy with it. It really seems to jell so much better than the other brand I've used. I plan to use it from now on.
Wow what a blessing to have access to all of that! Looks like so much fun!
Yes, we are so thankful to live just 10 minutes away from my parents. We moved here last year just to be close to them, and it has been such a blessing in every way!
In so many ways…
YES!
The daddy of the house took off work today and we headed to our local patch. What fun!
We usually go every year. We've too been in the kitchen jamming, eating, making smoothies and freezing whole.
love your pics!!!
How fun that y'all went berry-picking, too! I still need to freeze some of ours. We also love them in smoothies. 🙂
Such beautiful pictures. And, I can't believe you are already harvesting berries!
In Utah, the first crop is usually June.
We have a few plants in a raised bed that I'm hoping will produce this year 🙂
Thank you! I hope your plants produce well for you–raised beds are wonderful. 🙂
You are a good month ahead of our strawberry season. How lovely your berries look and what wonderful memories you have made in the strawberry patch. ~lisa
Hi Lisa,
Yes, everything is growing earlier this year for us. We had a *very* mild winter here. Thanks for stopping by!
Oh! Strawberries!!! Can't wait for them to be ready here in our little corner of the world 🙂
Beautiful pictures Joy!
Thank you, James!
We love strawberries here! But, our season isn't until the middle of June. It seems like everyone who has a blog is having a great time of harvest, we haven't even planted anything besides greens/peas/and the garlic I planted last fall. I am itching to get out there though! Soon! How does the Pomona's pectin work? I have wanted to try this because of the lower sugar content, but wasn't sure how well it worked.
This is actually a couple of weeks earlier than usual for our strawberries here, since we had such a mild winter.
This was my first time using Pomona's. It works with calcium water along with the pectin, which allows you to use less sugar. You can also use honey, stevia, xylitol, and other alternative sweeteners. I really wanted to use honey this time, but we didn't have enough honey (and it's so expensive that I like to eat our raw honey raw to get all the benefits). It seemed to jell up really well, so I'm happy with it.
Love all your photos! I'm trying my hand at strawberries again this year. I haven't had luck in the past, but I'm going to try planting them in a raised bed this year to see if they take better.
This is our first year with strawberries, since my parents gave us some plants when they thinned theirs out. We noticed that the birds are enjoying them…so we may not have as many. Thankfully, we can share with my parents!