Let's Jam! Domesticality Part 2

Well, the jam making photos are not cooperating, but here's the scoop (mmm, fresh jam on a scoop of ice cream) and I'll update with photos later!

We met the berry picking troop at the Heikes farm with our grubby clothes on.
I'll have you know that I've never ever picked berries before.
I know, so deprived.

So, I'm picturing myself with my baby strapped on, squatting in the row filling my container with plump berries like those talented, hard-working mothers you see in other countries. When I got to the rows and started to bend down, I almost fell on my face! I suppose if I were to try to carry a pitcher full of water on my head, I would also fall over, or the pitcher would. I trekked back to the car and put the tiny man in the stroller.

I thought berry picking was surprisingly easy, but then I only picked for 45 minutes. The farm lady was nice, there was a portalet and place for washing hands, and they had free containers to use. And the berries were cheap at only one dollar a pound! I think I literally picked on one side of a row, only moving about 3 feet and got myself 3 pounds of strawberries. Boy, were they good. We were allowed to eat as many as we wanted... the 3 year old carried around a box, putting a berry in and promptly taking it out to eat it.

We headed back to TLC's house to make our tasty spread.
We cheated again and made "No Cook" jam where you just mash the berries, add some sugar and pectin and let it set up for 30 minutes. Easy Peasy! The recipe is on the back of the packet of pectin. We left out some of the sugar because we remembered from last year that it was waaaaaaay too sweet.

For those of us who have never ever actually canned one thing in their life (sad), this is a fabulous way to fake it!

The next day, we ate our jam all.day.long. Seriously.
We had it on toast in the morning. We had it in pbj&banana wraps for lunch. We had it on our yogurt for snack. Wow, so yummy! I wanted to pour it into my mouth, it was so good. We've already gone through one jar.

Then we put it on handmade ice cream. Don't I sound so domestic and wonderful? Hahahaha, NOT! This was another cheater recipe. Did you know that you can make ice cream in a plastic baggy with 3 ingredients, some ice and some rock salt? And if you don't have rock salt, like I didn't, you can make that too!

We've sure been having fun... but with these fun memories comes a small sadness.
I can't help thinking that our fun moments here in this town are nearing their end. "This may be the last time we ______. " flits in and out of my thoughts throughout my day. Our house has finally sold to a solid buyer and we only have about a month before we head north. I have more to say on that subject... soon.

This pic doesn't match the post really, but it matched my wistful mood.

On that happy note, go make some jam!

~christa jean