blogger mom

Everyone loves strawberries at Valentine's Day. They seem to be everywhere when the holiday arrives, usually covered in chocolate. Strawberries in February? Not here in Ohio...unless you have saved some from last season.

Last Friday my mom and I took the kids strawberry picking. The weather was perfect and I think I could have stayed all day if my back wasn't hurting from bending over the plants for so long. It didn't seem like we picked that much until we got them home and started making strawberry freezer jam. Almost 15 pounds of strawberries really is a lot, and they needed to be used quickly because the boys were not extremely gentle with the berries. We canned 16 pints of jam (not the little jam size half pints, full pints). We still had so many strawberries left, it was a little overwhelming. So, I made some strawberry bread and then a strawberry pie. It was a relief to see the bag empty.

Saturday I went to market to pick up our first fruit CSA share of the season from Wayward Seed. The only had one thing ready this early in the season...strawberries. Another 5 quarts to be exact. So, the boys had strawberries for breakfast, lunch and dinner on Sunday. We also celebrated a very belated birthday for Jen on Sunday. The poor girl had simply requested a yellow cake with chocolate icing. Guess what she got? Strawberry cake with strawberry icing. Last night I came downstairs at 10:30 and I couldn't stand the sight of strawberries in my kitchen. It had all been so exciting a few weeks ago, that first quart of local strawberries at market. I used the tray freezer method to freeze the rest of them last night and they will be waiting for us in the deep freezer. We'll get five more quarts this Saturday and I'm guessing most of those will be frozen for later as well. But, I think this is how it's really meant to be. You eat so much of what is in season that you get tired of it and then you are quite content to wait another year for some more. Or, at least until Valentine's Day...then I can pull them out of the freezer and cover them with chocolate.

Also, two quick reviews of reusable products...the reusable paper towels are exactly what I needed. I love them. I also love the reusable sandwich bags. I have had a lot of moms ask me about them when we've used them at COSI or the park. They are easy to use, easy to clean, and really cute. I would encourage you to give these products a try.