Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Berry-licious

It's that time of year when all the berries are their full glory. I guess strawberries have been on for a while already, but the blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are catching up. And that means stocking up!

Growing up, we had a huge strawberry patch at our house, and it was my summertime household job to pick berries and make freezer jam pretty much every other day. Any time my away-at-college sisters would call home and ask what I'm doing, no matter what time of day, the answer would always be "dishes" or "making jam." I got pretty sick of it sometimes, but we were sure glad to dig a carton of homemade jam out of the freezer in the winter when we were craving a little taste of summer.

Speaking of summer, it's having a hard time making an appearance around here. Our heater kicked on this morning! So, our harvest may be meager at best, which means we'll be visiting our local "u-pick" farms for berries. If you haven't heard of PickYourOwn.org, you must go and check it out. You can search by location and narrow your search by the type of produce you're looking for. It has extras like recipes, canning tips and picking tips. Our favorite is blueberry picking at Canter-Berry Farms. They don't use any pesticides or herbicides, and they encourage you to eat as much as you like while you're picking.

If you're looking for something delicious and different to make with your berries, try this Rhuberry Pie. It combines FOUR kinds of berries and my favorite - rhubarb. Hurry before the rhubarb is gone for the season! Or convince yourself to break open one of the 6 bags you're hoarding in the freezer for year-long rationing. Not that I do that.

Happy Independence Day next week, everyone! Make something deliciously patriotic with all those berries out there!




P.S. Speaking of strawberries, this is one of our favorite books! We all love the illustrations, and I love that I totally relate to it (although my freckles didn't go away when I got older either!).

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