Strawberries and jam

Such an absolutely perfect weekend. First we hosted a Friday potluck, then a Saturday at the farmer's market, spent time in the yard planting more herbs (4 kinds of basil!) and veggies and the evening at Cirque du Soleil. And then an impromptu strawberry picking expedition on Sunday lead by the world most adorable strawberry spotter. The strawberries were gorgeous at the farmer's market this weekend I developed an obsession with picking strawberries this spring. My indulgent husband let me hijack our other plans.

Child labor

We've been playing the game Orchard in which a rascally raven steals your fruit. Joey was very concerned that we needed to get to the strawberries before the raven came and ate our fruit. If you have a 2 - 5 year old, you need Orchard. Joey loves it and it's tolerable for us to play over and over and over...

Lifting 25% of his body weight in fruit

Berry boys

Anyway, we picked 8 lbs. of strawberries. We had another 3 lbs. from the farmer's market in the fridge. So that's 11 lbs. of berries. Ummmm, yeah. Clearly, I was a little excited to see them in season again.

I've put up 10 jars of jam and have plans to freeze most of the rest. Now that I'm over my fear of canning, I really love it. The jars look so pretty lined up in the pantry and Joey had a blast using the potato masher to smash the berries. Well, smash and eat. Look here for more info about canning. I love busting out all the weird shaped jars I inherited from my Grandma. They are perfect for jam!