A Berry Nice Time

Honestly, the most difficult part about this post was which pun to use in the title. Should I go for something to do with canning or with berries? So many options. 

Given that clever title, you've probably deduced that this post has something to do with berries. 

Well, you are correct. 

I joined Molly and her mom, Michele for an adventure amid strawberry plants. It was their very first time picking the delicious red berries, which surprised me since I grew up picking them on the way back from the beach every year. I sort of thought everyone had picked strawberries (I asked Carson and he doesn't think he's ever been either, so maybe it was just my circle of friends growing up).

I was also surprised to know that strawberries here aren't ready until late June (we picked on the last day of June) or early July. Back home, strawberries are an early to mid-May kind of thing. Must have something to do with the weather... 

Anyway, we went up and almost met a dead end when the first farm we stopped at only had berries for sale; nothing to pick. But they directed us down the road to another farm. As we turned in the drive, we saw dozens of families picking and eating berries and we knew that we were in the right place. Yay!

I had just taken a bite out of this one; I had to edit the berries off my teeth; oops!

As you can see, they were naturals at this berry picking thing; Michele made herself at home in the field

We went a little crazy with the picking: 15 pounds of berries. 

And then it was time to make strawberry jam. 

When we got back to Molly's apartment, we ate and de-stemmed. 

I mashed. I was the "gentle masher"... but not gentle enough to avoid berries on my shirt.

7 cups of sugar per batch! 

Boiling

  

Jarring

Lidding.

I helped with the lids too.

Placing the jars in a pot of boiling water to set. I like this picture; they're so ready to jump in and fix whatever mistake I was about to make :) 

Finished

Labeled

Proud. We were intending to do only 12 jars but we picked (and had already mashed) way too many berries so we sent Jerrad out for 12 more. And we still had a lot of leftovers for Molly and Jerrad to put over ice cream or shortcake the next day. 

All the credit for the canning goes to Molly's mom, of course. She instructed and guided on the first batch, and we learned so well that she left us and read a book during the last batch. We're probably the best students ever. At least that's what we like to think. 

It was fun, and though not a process I'd enjoy alone, I think I'd like to do it again. It wasn't as difficult I thought, and the result tastes pretty nice.