Every year when school gets out I line up our babysitter (the one I used regularly when I was still working) to watch my little guy so that I can have a special day with my school girl. In the past we have gone to an arcade, a state park/monument and a drive-in restaurant. This year money is a little tighter, as I'm not working outside of the home anymore, so I decided to entertain ourselves by strawberry picking and making strawberry jam.
It was such a fantastic day for it-the rain we were supposed to get just blew on by. My seven year old girl was aptly entertained for over an hour by just picking and commenting on every single berry. Our only down point was when we pulled up to the strawberry farm to see a sign listing "Children over 12 only." My girl is a pretty good reader, so she saw this before me and was crying before I even knew what was going on. We had driven over an hour to get there and I hadn't seen anything on the website about an age limit, so we trekked in and I asked. After some consideration, the owner decided that my gal could pick on an outside of a row of the field, while I picked inside. Like I said before, she was a pro-didn't squash a single plant and not once did I hear "I'm BORED!" When we returned to pay for our bounty, the owner said she saw how good my girl was and that next year she can pick right in the row with me. You should have seen her beaming!
It was the highlight of my whole week having that special time with her-I hope I never forget it... After a quick bite we were back home and I was cutting strawberries. The whole process seemed to take forever, but after a few hours of prep and cooking, we had jam! I made a double batch-big enough to share with some neighbors & friends that often share goodies with us. It's always so good to give, isn't it? The simple recipe I used is:
Refrigerator Strawberry Jam
3 lb strawberries, washed & quartered
1 C. sugar
1 Tbs. lemon juice
Place all ingredients in large saucepan. Bring to boil over med-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, simmer for 1-3 hours (nice and mushy). Allow to cool (will thicken a little as cools). Store in air-tight containers-keep in fridge for up to a month. Makes about 4 cups.
I tried some of the jam that evening on some toast.... A sweet end to a sweet day.
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Sounds like you had a wonderful day together! Thanks for the jam recipe. I have always been intimidated by the thought of making jam, but your recipe seem so easy (and it's very yummy!) I'll have to give it a try!
ReplyDeleteI just read this story to Viv - we think that she is lucky to have such a great mom, who takes her to do such fun and interesting things! The best times in life are those you spend with your family! Good fun, Great memories! Bless you! Love to read your writings!
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