July 1, 2011

Man, I feel like this is just another chicken post one after another.  No, it's not a chicken post, but for a while there that's all I had to talk about.  Now it's yet another strawberry post.

Yes, we've been regularly going out to our strawberry/blueberry patch to harvest that day's ready-to-eat strawberries, but today was not about our patch.  A good friend of ours of about 5 years invited us and the boys to go strawberry picking at an organic farm out in Monroe.  Since we really didn't need a flat of strawberries ourselves (the boys have had their fill from the Costco flat we got a few weeks ago and our own harvest), we asked my mother along.  What we really want this year is home made strawberry jam, and this year, we envisioned having it made from fresh-picked organic strawberries!

It was a beautiful 75 degree day with the sun shining and the kids had a ball.  They haven't seen their friends much this year because they're in different schools.  So they played and ate more than they picked, but that's most of the fun of U-pick farms.

Meanwhile, we were serious berry pickers.  Of course I had to sample the merchandise, but mostly I only ate the ones that came off the stem without the top in place.

In the end we left tired and sated, with 18 pounds of organic strawberries.  At my mother's house we proceeded to take the tops off, wash and cut the berries, then sorted them into 6 cup bags.  All in all, we got 5 batches of jam making material, which will deliver 20 pints of jam as needed, fresh frozen for optimum taste.  My mouth is watering just typing this.  Sorry there were no shots of the strawberries, I didn't think of it before we started topping them, then it was so messy that I didn't dare touch anything.

For now, the only evidence of our work is a quart zip lock bag full of the best of the bunch for fresh eating, along with 3 cups of strawberry tops that the girls LOVE!  I had given about 3 cups to my brother as well so he can see just how much chickens like strawberry tops.  The majority of mine are in the fridge for use over time. 

I hope you can enjoy some freshly picked strawberries this season, they're like nothing you'll find in any store, or even at a farmer's market as they lose taste the moment they're picked.

Enjoy your garden!

June 25, 2011

If it's June in the Pacific Northwest, it must be the start of strawberry season. For a month or so I've watched the flowers bloom and the plants grow strong and healthy.  I've also seen berries form and plump up.  Having grown up with the tiny berry plants, it's good to see that I've got slightly larger varieties.  I have no idea what variety I've got, but June bearing comes to mind. Anyway,  I'm just thrilled to get a harvest this year.  If you recall last year my young boys harvested all the berries one morning before we got up, ripe or otherwise. 

So, you can imagine our thrill to see berries ripening all over my berry bed.

This year, the boys have been sternly warned not to pick any berries without mom or dad around.  So on Logan's last day of school, as a treat we went picking.  Anything that was fully ripe and in danger of being eaten by slugs or birds was harvested.  We got a very good harvest and left several more fairly ripe berries in the garden.

As you can tell the boys had a blast!

I think he looks happier than his brother, don't you?

Over the last few weeks or so, we've been working through a Costco flat of strawberries. In my experience, they've been tough and relatively flavorless.  These babies on the other hand, melted like butter on a hot day when I was cutting the stems off.  The girls didn't seem to have an opinion on which they liked better, Costco's or mine. They devour the tops in one gulp.  We on the other hand, were in heaven eating those perfectly sweet and tart juicy red pouches of goodness.  Makes my mouth water just writing about them. Tomorrow we'll have to harvest more!  And to think we've got close to 100 berries left on the plants in various stages of growth!  That, and the plants continue to send out runners that I train to go where I want. MUAHAHAHAHAHA!  Soon will be blueberry season! Yum!

Now you see why I won't let my girls free range.  Rather they get a new patch of 32 SF of grass every day to forage in.  Not a perfect world, but a nice arranngement over all.

Enjoy your garden!