Not Smart.
This year, she decided to come earlier than usual. She thought that was being Smart.
She forgot about Strawberries. :o)
We only picked around 35 pounds, so it wasn't too bad. Then of course you have to clean, hull and do something with them.
I am a wine novice. Right now, we have one gallon of Rhubarb wine fermenting. I will rack that early next week. Strawberry Wine is the one I am most looking forward to. Recently, Jody at Spring Garden Acre did a great post on their wine-making. You should check it out if you are interested! Since my girlfriend Tricia gave me this great book for Christmas, I decided to try a recipe from it however:
Now on Strawberry Picking and my niece, ...she was quite proud of herself for her accomplishment. This was her first time ever picking and she easily out-picked me almost 2 to 1. She is also 23 years younger than me. The brat!
I let her think she out picked me due to her youth. What these "old bones" lack in speed, they certainly make up for in endurance! I wasn't the one whining in "my back hurts, are we done yet" type way... I saved it for later and suffered silently! Ha!
But I ask you, did I work Smarter or Harder? (wink-wink)
And lastly, if you ever needed yet another reason to start pressure canning meats maybe this will help! Late afternoon yesterday, my SIL Jen called and was a wee bit upset because once again...her freezer went on the fritz. Just this Spring, she got a 1/4 beef from our farmer up the road!! So she was wanting to know what she could do with all that meat that was thawing. UGH!
Hopefully she got it cooked up. And hopefully she gets a new freezer. TODAY.
There again, note to self/nudge to work smarter not harder also. No one wants to lose that much meat!
Sorry Sis, hope you got it done or had one heck of a feast!!
Ah, thank goodness for young relatives that don't realize garden "hauls" are an ongoing thing! Nice haul on the strawberries. 35 pounds is a lot to hull-ugh!
ReplyDeleteOh, indeed, wisdom comes with age. Or at least craftiness does. I'd love to have my nephew come and help out, but he only lasts about 20 minutes before full whine sets in. Yeesh.
ReplyDeleteRemember you can always support your local Ice company and get some dry ice to keep that freezer frozen while you get it fixed;) Dry ice is -109 degrees and will keep it rock hard. I never saw that book, I might need to check it out.
ReplyDeleteUgh to freezers going out. Nothing more frustrating than that...although it does make you learn new recipes REAL quick. Or...you get to invite a lot of people over for a giant feast! :)
ReplyDeleteThirty-five pounds of strawberries in one picking! Wowzer! What do you do with all your dried strawberries, m'dear?
ReplyDeleteI'm envious of your wine making. Just last night at dinner hubby and I were salivating thinking about our coming crops of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries and fantasizing about when we get around to making wine with them. Mmmm-mm! Keep us posted on your effort, 'kay?
Sue, many hands, many hands! Or in this case younger ones at least!!
ReplyDeleteSusan, yeah, what's up with these darn kids! Is 20 minutes a magic number for them or something? Heck, that's our warm up round!
Jane, maybe I will tell Jenny you guys can ship it! And while you are at it, wrap yourself in that box, would ya? There are alot of recipes in the book and a very wide range. But you know me, I could use more specific instruction then I wouldn't have to bug YOU!
MamaTea, makes you want to froth at the mouth it does! We had a big feast on that account once too. I vowed never again!
MamaPea, never bothered drying them before but Adam loves them in his cereal. So my guess is he will gobble them all up that way. I think they would be best in oatmeal myself! I will let you know how the wines turn out. Boy I sure hate for them to be icky. The waiting part just stinks!
I'm so excited about your strawberry wine plans. Please keep posting about it's development. And thanks for mentioning ours. I'll have to post an update soon. Nice job with your niece, we have three nephews coming on Monday. We're going to follow your lead and put them to work too!
ReplyDeleteNummy strawberries-I finally made it to the farmers market but I'm sure nothing was local-maybe the strawberries,BUT I BOUGHT EGGPLANT-BEANS [GREEN] SMALL RED POTATOES,RASPBERRIES,BLUEBERRIES.BLACKBERRIES AND SOME CORN ON THE COB-SO YA I WENT A LITTLE NUTS BEING MY FIRST TRIP TO THE MARKET FOR THIS SUMMER BUT SURELY NOT THE LAST.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty funny, I bet she's wondering on how to throw the dice for next summer's "week" LOL! Glad you are doing wine, homebrewing is awesome!
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't get my age, cause then you will realy know what a sore back is like, haha you are to young to have a bad back, but if it does hurt a glass of wine will help
ReplyDeletefeel for you!
Jody, I so badly want to know how the wine is going to turn out. You will certainly have to keep us posted on yours too! And you are very welcome! Now, start making a list for all the things the nephews can do!! Oh free labor!
ReplyDeleteJudy, so you are eatin' good tonight! Can you believe I FORGOT to go to the farmers market this weekend. I'm such a ding bat.
Pops, I hope I DO get your age and then some actually!! HA! But you my dear father in law have had too much bad luck with your back so yes...I hope I never get that bad! Now if only that darn wine was ready I'd get me a wee bit tipsy!
Will your niece come up to MN to help us pick berries? I could use another strong back and more nimble fingers!
ReplyDeleteJust found your blog....love it! I will be back. I am going to follow along. I hope you will stop by "My Mountain Blessings" and follow along too. Strawberry wine yes, but Rhubarb...I just am not to sure about. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about drying strawberries this year, but am terrified of canning meat...I don't know why but the idea of it terrifies me!
ReplyDelete