The Event ~ Strawberry Season

Strawberry season is usually meaningless to me because I have never been able to raise a good strawberry patch.  I hear stories of  Grandma Katherine Stricker's overproductive patch in a gravel hill.  I currently can share in the joy of Janel's small strawberry patch bearing a productive harvest.  Usually this time of the year I can only buy those not-quite-ripe-white-on-the-inside strawberries offered in the store.

However, recently on the evening of July 3rd we joined cousins Connie and Rich for a July 4th bbq at their farm in Hemingford.  It's always fun to go there in the summertime and view her beautiful yard, flowers and garden because she is such a green thumb talented garden tender.  Connie has a productive large strawberry bed and she let Annie and I pick strawberries while waiting for the food to be ready.

 

Annie and I each picked a bucket full of fresh strawberries.  On the morning of July 4th, we spent time in the kitchen together making strawberry jam and sauce.  We also added jalepeno peppers to the jam, which everyone seems to like. 

Then we picked an armful of rhubarb and made rhubarb punch and rhubarb sauce.  In addition to the jars of jelly Annie and Cash were able to take back to Denver with them, Annie also took a bunch of rhubarb home with her to make some crunch and pie desserts for Cash.  It was a fun, eventful bonding time for Annie and I in the kitchen. 

To follow that, this past Saturday I returned to Hemingford to go to the country quilt shop and Connie invited me to pick the last of her strawberries.  So I brought another bucket home and made seven more pints of strawberry jam.  M-m-m-m, so good!  Connie says she has like 15 gallons of strawberries in her freezer waiting to be made into jam this winter! 

We had waffles with fresh strawberry sauce and real whipped cream for supper Saturday nite.  This was a real treat for us.  Thank you Connie, for sharing your strawberries!