All In A Day's...Or Three's...Work

It's been a busy few days. When I picked up the kids from daycare on Tuesday, Julie asked if they could come Thursday to hang out with a couple of friends that they rarely see. I'm on vacation for a couple of weeks but I wasn't about to turn down the invitation. Strawberries were calling me. So, Thursday morning, the kids and I headed out, passing the Berry Patch on the way. Hmmm. The gates were closed but there were a few people picking. Must be the pre-pickers. I dropped the kids off and decided to head back the way I came just in case the situation had changed in fifteen minutes and the gates had been opened. Drat. They were closed. And it was raining a bit. What to do? Go home? The strawberries were still calling. I drove down to Johnston's.

Once there, I pulled in alongside the market hut and asked if the pick-your-own was open. Not for another hour so that the road could dry a bit. Drat. But, if I wanted I could walk up to the patch and pick to my heart's content. Gee, what to do? I ran at top speed...okay, not really. I walked up and picked and picked and picked some more. Every now and then I took a wee break to stretch my back and check out the view of Rice Lake. (I was waving, Marian. Did you see me?!) In a matter of a couple of hours, I had five 4-litre baskets full of sweet, ripe berries. I paid up and left.

At home, I dug out the canner and some canning jars, lids and recipes. Thursday's batch of jam was made according to the instructions in a box of Certo. First time I've used pectin. (Well, other than the time I used it in the dandelion jelly...but we're not going to talk about that. Okay?) We all had a taste of the newly made jam and agreed it was pretty tasty. Even Cammy. Now, this is big. This may lead to v.a.r.i.e.t.y in his school lunches. The twenty jars of raspberry jam that I made last year didn't get us through grade 1 and I've been feeling the pressure.

Thursday night, I sliced up nine trays-worth of berries and dried them over night.

Friday morning, the berries were scraped off the screens and dropped into jars. And I made another batch of jam with pectin. Next, I went back to my tried and true recipe, described as a classic Canadian jam. (I'm a sucker for the words 'classic Canadian' - so I had to try it.) We lovingly refer to this one as 'drippy jam'. (Thus the reason for trying pectin.) It's great on pancakes or ice cream.

And Friday night, I sliced up another nine trays-worth of berries and dried them over night. If I never see another...um, I mean, the kids adore these and I'm so happy to be able to provide them. Today I scraped the damn screens and dumped the berries into jars.

There's still a few berries in the fridge. I have no intention of slicing them. :-)