I know it has been far too long since I have written a post. I started two but never finished them…that seems to happen to me more often than not! June has arrived and it is strawberry season in southeastern Pennsylvania. It is the long, awaited time for those sweet, local strawberries. Florida and California berries are big and red but once you have tasted a fresh berry you know which is the winner! Two years ago I decided it was time to plant a strawberry patch again. It had been years since I had grown berries because they often became weedy patches. For several years my children grew them for 4-H projects, which was great, since I received fresh berries with little effort. My strawberry patch this year is relatively weed free. The difference this time is that I put newspaper and straw around the plants which is very effective with minimal weeding. Another advantage to mulching with straw is a soft, clean place to kneel on while picking.
We are in the second week of harvesting. We, means family members who help pick the berries. That way I have someone to talk with while picking and they can be blessed with them. If I add some grandchildren to the picking party it becomes really interesting! Remember the book, Blueberries for Sal? Instead of Blueberry Sal we had Strawberry Boy. Fourteen month old Benaiah raided the bowls and was very unhappy when he was stopped! The 4 and 5 year olds were great strawberry pickers but they also wanted me to put the berries I picked in their bowls! It was a bit distracting as they moved here and there over the patch. But it was delightful!
What have I done with the berries? Strawberry pies, jam, freezing them in various ways and strawberry muffins. They were delicious. It was like eating strawberry jam inside a muffin. Here is a link for the muffins from Once Upon a Chef http://www.onceuponachef.com/2015/05/strawberry-muffins.html
For the strawberry jam I have discovered the Ball brand of RealFruit Pectin. It is very convenient and simple. I like to preserve the jam in jars so I use the Classic Pectin. A jar of jam with homemade bread or muffins are a delightful gift.
There is also the Instant Pectin which is nice for no-cook freezer jam. It is quite simple and as the name says, no cooking required.
I think I might have picked up an unwanted visitor in the strawberry patch! Yes, my bowl of berries might have some small black bugs but this particular insect was not in my bowl but on me! My daughter looked at me and asked, “What is on your ear?” So for the first time in my life, I had a wood tick attached to me and I didn’t even know it! I took a deep breath and calmly got a tweezers and asked my amazing husband to remove it for me, which he did and I didn’t feel a thing! Lesson is: I need others in my life to notice an unwanted pest and then help me remove it.
Tasty strawberries are good but this verse from Psalm 34:8 says what is the best. O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!