The strawberries are done

[Tink]

Paige (my granddd) and I put up 41 containers of strawberries today. 8 of frozen, and 31 of jam.
I'm officially done making jam until the raspberries are ripe.
With the high cost of berries and other ingredients this year, I'm not sure how much I actually saved by doing it ourselves, but we're so used to home made that store bought just doesn't cut it.

So who else is canning or freezing this year?

[Janet]

I use to can and freeze every year and truly enjoyed it. It sure tastes so much better than store bought doesn't it? We haven't planted a garden for a few years now, just too busy. I really hope to plant one next year. I just need to simplify my life some.

[DianaB]

I used to have a really big garden and canned a lot, but since we've moved the garden spot isn't very convient to use and my cooking has changed since I don't have as large a family to cook for. I used to make strawberry jam, and nothing tastes as good as homemade, but my husband is diabetic so needless to say I don't make it any more.

[Marilyn]

We used to can all the time. I grew up canning and did so until 1995 when my father passed away. He was the gardner. He had a 2 to 3 acre garden and planted rows of peas, pumpkins and such in the corn field. We gave a lot away, too. Mother used to complain that we were supplying the whole DuPont plant with food. My dad was a maintenance mechanic at a DuPont petrochemical plant in our area. We had people out most evenings when the garden was producing picking vegetables.

I used to pick cucumbers in mud past my ankles just to get them off the vines so they would keep producing.

He raised a variety of strawberry that was red all the way through, no white core. They were sooooo good!!!

Miss him and the garden, and the fresh produce.

[judy]

I've never canned, but as a kid, we used to spend our summers in the country. My grandmother would give us cousins big containers and we would go pick blueberries.
She would then sit us down with some sugar and sour cream mixed in and that was lunch. From beginning to end, it was so much fun.

[Janet]

I really should have planted some strawberries. I'm not real fond of them, but my son loves them. Either with shortcake, powdered sugar or just alone.

[Gina]

Sounds like an adventure, being born and raised in the city. I never had any experiences of picking fruits and veggies and then canning them. Tink sounds like you and your granddaughter had some quality time in doing this and fun too.

[Marilyn]

Thought I'd bump this thread back up for you ladies in the cold. You can dream of making strawberry jam again and warmer days!!!!

[Tink]

Teeheehee Marilyn, like everything else all my strawberries are frozen right now.

[AngieDoogles]

Oh wow, what a good thread! I've been telling Brendon every day this past week "today we are one day closer to springtime!" hehe We've had a bit of warm weather and it's making me want more! Winters are usually pretty hard on me (I feel really sad), and so spring brings a renewed sense of purpose and meaning to my life. I feel like a kid in a candy store the first day I open my windows and doors just to let the breeze blow through!

[Janet]

Marilyn it did get me to thinking about if I want to plant a garden this year. I love having a garden, but if you don't stay on top of it, it will over grow in no time. Decisions....decisions...!

[DianaB]

Oh yum.......Strawberries sound so gooooooood right now!!!! Thanks for the reminder, Marilyn, that Spring is just around the corner!!!