Strawberries

My favorite fruit is a strawberry. I love them anyway you can serve them, though my least favorite way is dipped in hard chocolate. I think it's all because from a young age I was forced to spend hours with them every June. School would get out for the summer and a'pickin' we would go. My mom would drag us down the room to the strawberry farm and we would sit in the hot sun for what seemed like hours and have to pick strawberries. We had quarts and quarts but it was still not enough. Finally, we would be done and then, home to clean them, puree them, sugar and jam them. A few made it into things like strawberry pizza and strawberry shortcake.

Though the above sounds like drudgery, think a hot biscuit just out of the oven. A tender bit of steam curling into the air as you pull the flaky morsel apart. Then, lather it up with some nice chilled homemade strawberry jam with junks of real strawberries that are still firm and taste like they are just out of the field. Got it? Yum!

So consequently, the drudgery has been a great experience for me and one that I have perpetuated into my adulthood and mothering. Today Hannah and I, along with her friend, Jarom, drove about 1 hour and 45 minutes to pick strawberries. A little far yes, but well worth it. There were so many beautiful berries. It was a beautiful day and the kids turned out to be pretty good strawberry pickers while I could keep them on task. Eventually they just made sand castles in the dirt while I finished the picking. We ended up picking just over 26 lbs. That is a lot of berries. Most of it will jam though I'm limited in my freezer space. I know I can just can it but I really like the freezer variety.

Tonight I made tasty strawberry muffins and strawberry pizza and a torte are calling my name. I think I'm in trouble. Hannah and Jonathan love them too. I couldn't even get the berries in the door before Jonathan had one in each hand. I was able to get them cleaned and the tops off though before he made too much damage. I am so excited. Yay for Spring and the early Texas warmth. Now we wait for Peaches next month.