I believe Sylvia Plath and I have an understanding

About the high jinx and the sarcasm, not the electroshock therapy. Today we went to pick strawberries at a local Pick Your Own (click to find one near you!). Since my townhouse is on a plot of land slightly larger than my bathtub any real farming is impossible. So when we want to get the goods we go to the farm and pick them ourselves. I was told by a few friends that the crop of strawberries was not-so-hot this year, but I figured "What the hey!"

I'm glad I went! Jack made a friend right away and his mom and I seemed to agree that as long as they weren't hurting anyone or bothering anyone we'd let them entertain themselves.

With one less kiddo to watch I was able to pick LOTS of strawberries. (Maybe I got a lucky row or something.) There were a few little old ladies (with their husbands in tow) muttering about slim pickin's, but that didn't seem to be true for me.

So with Henry on my back I squatted and stood and squatted and stood and squatted and stood.

Workout for the day- CHECK!

6.67 lbs of strawberries later we were ready to go!

I dusted off my Ball (bell) jars read some very complicated Jam-making instructions. Which must be followed exactly or the house could blow up like a meth lab. (Remember that episode of Grey's Anatomy...)

But here's the thing with making Jam- there is probably instructions inside the pectin (which you should buy from a store if it's your first time, don't be a hero and harvest it from apples yourself). The instructions in your brand of pectin are going to be the most exact because every brand of pectin is slightly different.

I used my potato masher to smoosh the berries before cooking. Sterilize the jars & lids while making the first (of three) batch of jam.

Funnel into jars.

Put on both lids, and place using special tongs (on right) in boiling water. This pot is youge!

One of the ladies I was chatting with was talking about making strawberry ice cream with some of her take. She just mushes and freezes some and then adds it to the ice-cream maker when she's ready. With 6 jars of jam I decided to save the remaining berries for some ice cream of my own. Yum!