Two Much: My Life with Twins + 1: Strawberries

Last week, when strawberries were at the peak of freshness I decided to venture out with my brood to pick some...shouldn't be too hard right? I mean...it's only a field with fragile plants and the hot sun...how hard could it be?!? Well...when we got there the lady was a bit apprehensive that I had not one, but 2 three year olds and a baby....and I was going to do the picking myself--I am totally sure she was wishing she had binoculars to see this sight. I assured her that my kids were well behaved and would not ruin her plants...and she trusted me. I put Lydia in the sling, on my hip--and gave each of the boys a box--I told them it was their special box, and mommy would fill it and they could then dump the berries into the big box and I would give them some more. We did a brief lesson on no eating the berries (we never eat before we wash-we've been working on this one) and walking only on the hay, not touching the plants and not squeezing the berries....and off we went. We traipsed down the lane about a 1/2 mile to the site where we were to pick...we were already hot and sweaty at this point and I figured we were already here and going...might as well try. We ended up staying about an hour and the boys did really well--I paid $6.00 for my berries (they were $1.50 a pound). If you total up hours worked and amount of berries, it probably doesn't seem worth the time. After all, we only had enough to eat some for dinner that night and breakfast the next morning, and to freeze a few for smoothies at a later date. But, the boys had a fantastic time! I didn't have to remind them much about the rules, and they were SO into it. They told daddy every day for the rest of the week! I told the lady I'd be back sometime without my littles, so I could get more, but that didn't happen--we went another 20 miles on the bikes this weekend instead.

So...fast forward to yesterday--I was really craving more strawberries, my goal this year is to be more proactive about freezing and canning in season, so that we have some for later. It just wasn't happening--me getting back out to the patch--and I was ready to have some more berries. Yesterday, after gymnastics, we headed to Sam's--it is a 1/2 hour drive from my house and although we have some good stores in our little town--I just needed some things, and we made a day of it. While at Sam's I found their strawberries, and they were actually per pound...comparable to what I was going to pay at the patch--without the work--so it was settled, I bought them...4 of their large clam shells of them..and set out to reach my goal of making strawberry freezer jam this week. So, tonight was the night...and actually, strawberry freezer jam is not so hard--here's the how to:

Wash and clean the berries, I laid mine out to dry…

Slice them up and put them in a bowl ( I did a double batch, so I needed 8 total cups of berries)…

You need to crush the berries…I used my potato masher as I went along and it helped me know how many more I needed.

I had to stop when I was done with this step, because I had a visitor (up from nap) in the kitchen who needed some of his own berries as a snack…and some alone momma attention.

Later, I just pulled out my berries (from the fridge) and added them to a bowl with the freezer jam pectin in it with the sugar. (freezer jam pectin-Ball Brand-in the green envelope--I had a picture, but it isn't loading right)