Strawberries, Shortcake and Jam, Oh My!

It hasn't been all that sunny, but guess what, the strawberries are GOOD this year!  Yesterday, we headed down to Harvold's in Carnation to pick our annual cache of lil red gems.  The weather was cool and a little misty, but we had sweatshirts and it was actually quite pleasant.  I've picked on sunny hot days before and yesterday's weather was much, much better.  Strawberry picking is sort of hard work; I mean, relative to berry picking.  You have to squat.  It is sort of slow-going, as you have to be choosy.  Cool mist beats trickles of sweat running down the backs of your legs any day.  There were a handful of people picking at Harvold's; we were the youngest.  And I don't mean by a little--everyone else there was a certifiable senior citizen; why is this?  I mean, good for them, they've got it right, but where are ya youngsters?  We picked 9 pounds at $1/pound.  Cain't beat that!  It's fun to pick your own berries; I've done it every year for years, and I will eventually be one of those oldsters out there for sure.  People are so busy nowadays that they often miss out on simple, satisfying experiences like strawberry picking.  OM and I talk about this stuff all the time.  The oldsters remember, and they show up.  I hope my kids will remember times like this and build them into their adult lives.  It's simple, but it's RICH.  

And, helloooo!  The spoils that come from picking 9 pounds of strawberries are heavenly.  We came home and started in on spoil #1:  freezer jam.  I washed and hulled berries and  Caroline squished them with a potato masher:

Add a LOT of sugar, a little pectin and ladle it into jars; how easy is that?  

We now have 22 jars of strawberry freezer jam setting up (for 24 hours) on the counter. I'm hoping to put up that much in raspberry freezer jam this year, too.  Last year, we missed raspberry picking because the patch was open at times that didn't work for us, but this year, we will be there, you mark my words!  


And of course strawberry spoil #2 is:  SHORTCAKE!  Again, Caroline donned an apron (and high heels) to help out:

"Lordy!  What a Summer-time fer to sing!"  --James Whitcomb Riley