Strawberry Picking and Freezer Jam

For my last week of maternity leave Hubs, Olivia, the dog and I packed up our stuff and headed up to Maine. It was kind of a spur of the moment idea, and I had to pack us all in a hurry. Boy is it harder to pack now!! Before I just packed myself and the dog. Now I have myself, the dog and the baby. Who would have guessed that such a small person would need sooooo much stuff!! That could be a whole other blog entry though!

While we were in Maine my Mom and Dad took us strawberry picking. Hubs had never been before (what can I say he grew up in the city), so I had to show him the ropes. I actually had a job for a couple summers where picking strawberries was something we did. I worked at a research farm for the University of Maine. We picked, weighed and cataloged the berries... then got to take them home. Seriously, best job perk ever! Especially when we did the same thing with blueberries, vegetables and apples. Anyways, since I am a qualified and knowledgeable strawberry picker I appointed myself and Olivia as Hubs supervisor. We watched over him and told him where to pick. Olivia fussed a little, but really, she may not even understand what a strawberry is yet.

My sister finished picking first.  She said she still had a lot of berries from last year.  I decided to give her a turn with the baby and assisted Hubs with filling our tray. He needed it :) Most of the pickings went into our tray, but a few pump red berries went straight into our mouths. Trying a few while we work may be my favorite part of strawberry picking. After we had picked all we could, we put all the berries in my Dad's car because, of course, the farm only took cash, and we only had plastic. Thanks Dad (we paid him back of course)!!

Back at home, the strawberries were picked through, hulled, washed and placed in freezer bags.  My Dad told us we had to do this right away or they would get really mushy.  I was feeling lazy, but couldn't risk all those delicious strawberries.

This summer Hubs and I have been on a canning and preserving kick.  We had talked to my mom about it, and she had gotten all the stuff to make freezer jam with the strawberries.  Just as a side note, she got all the stuff using her up rewards from rite aid :)  The three of us started making the jam together, but Hubs got torn away to cook lunch on the grill, then I had a crying baby to soothe, and Mom was the only one left.  Somehow, and I'm not really sure how, a mistake was made.  The jam never set.  First jam Hubs and I ever made together...first jam fail.

Mom was terribly upset about it, but we really could have cared less.  It tastes absolutely delicious!  We put it on toast and then eat it very carefully (cause it's pretty runny).  One weekend I made pancakes and we used it instead of maple syrup.  Basically, it was a delicious mistake.