Sunday, July 5, 2015

Strawberries!


Every single year I vow to go pick strawberries. I'm not a big jam maker, but I love eating them and using them in smoothies. However, it seems like every year I get so busy that I miss the season.

FINALLY! This year I managed not only to go once but twice in the same week. And man, was it worth it! These were the best strawberries I have ever eaten in my entire life. Seriously. So sweet. So good.

I brought along my trusty side-kicks - aka Mr. T and my youngest. My youngest son was a huge help the first day and the second day as well. While he needs to work on his technique, he worked diligently both times we went. However, this was his very first time every picking strawberries.


Mr. T was a big help too - we would take turns handing him strawberries and he would place them in the flat for us. He did excellent and stayed right with us, in the sun, for the 30 minutes it took us to fill two flats of strawberries. I ended up with about 14 pounds that first day. And for his first time, I must say that my youngest did great and picked six pounds all by himself!

I went again a few days later and met up with my sister. I had noticed that they were also selling peas and you could pick your own so I was excited for fresh peas. We started in the pea field this time. They were a lot fewer and farther between this go round and we had extra "help" as well.

My niece and "Mr. T"

Showing off the peas they picked. 

Actually our biggest challenge today was keeping two 2-year-olds from running all over the pea field while we picked. We worked for about 30 minutes and I only managed to get six pounds. I split that between myself and Mr. T's mom. 

After shelling what I kept, I ended up with enough peas for two meals. Hmmm...may have to rethink this in terms of "what I get for the amount of time I put in." Or plant my own garden next year. 

We then headed to the strawberry field and each picked a flat of berries. My niece loves berries and my sister had a hard time getting her to not pick since she would pick anything and eat anything that remotely looked like a strawberry. 

I did manage to snag a couple photos of them both looking cute. 

I tried to get Mr. T to eat one, but he wasn't all that sure about it.

I lost count how many she ate. 

Thankfully I had washed and hulled the original 14 pounds of berries (after giving two quarts to Mr. T's mom) and they were already in the freezer. 

The second day we went to pick I processed all the peas (shelled and ate/stuck in the fridge what wasn't cooked), all the strawberries (washed, hulled, and frozen whole), and the 15 ears of corn I had bought earlier in the week (shucked, blanched, and frozen). Our local grocery store was selling corn for five ears for $1. We ate some and I processed the rest. I'll probably wait until the farm where we picked the berries at has some later in the season though before I do any more.

All in all a good start to summer! And I may just go back for some more berries this week!

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