Berry Pickin' Mania

It's strawberry picking season here in Michigan and we finally had good enough weather to go and get some of these delicious red berries. The kids had a great time and behaved well for the most part and I was able to pick almost 13 lbs!!! Here are some great pictures of the kids enjoying the fruits of their labors.

Want a bite?


Isn't Leah adorable, even when she's covered in sticky strawberry juice?

Having a little picnic with a friend who joined us

Leah kept saying she was tired and wanted to go take a nap in the car. It was only 11:30 am!

My sweet helpers

Abbie with her new sunglasses and a bucket full of ripe strawberries that she picked herself

Don't they look delicious? At $1.49 a lb, I'd say it was worth it!

Abbie was so proud of how much we got and kept wanting to help me carry them or clean and cut them up.

Making freezer jam, which I've done in the past and is pretty easy to do

I made two batches of this and have 10 little half-pints in our freezer now!

A few days later I tried my hand at canning strawberry jam and it was successful too! It was much harder and more involved and I actually like the taste of the freezer jam better so I don't know if I'll do this very often but it was nice to know that I CAN do it (pun intended!) and will have even more jam to last us all year that can be stored easier.

Aren't these little jars pretty all lined up in a row?

Now I have just enough strawberries left over to make a pie or something yummy so if you have any extraordinary recipes out there, send them my way. Thanks!