We went picking this morning! Didn’t get there as early as morning-person me wanted to, but we managed to leave just as the sun was starting to get hot. We weren’t sure how many strawberries we’d need for jam, so we each filled a tray. Wow. That was 23 pounds of strawberries! And FYI, 2.5 pounds of fresh summer strawberries = 4 cups of mashed strawberries. In case any of you are planning on jamming during the next couple of weeks.

So, I made two batches of jam, with honey instead of sugar. Apparently Jeremy isn’t thrilled about the flavor, and I am very disappointed by that. I think it tastes just fine; but then again, I like honey. I made the half-batch of jelly with sugar though, so he’ll get something. But, now I have eight jars of honey-jam and I don’t know how I’m going to get through them all! All in all, it wasn’t bad for a first try though — both jelly and jam jelled, it all tastes good (to me at least), and every single jar sealed properly. I’ve almost thrown out my shoulder patting myself on the back.

I also have a strawberry-rhubarb pie in the oven, and it promises to be delicious, even though I cheated on the pie crust and used store-bought. Instead, I made cream biscuits from scratch for the strawberry shortcake we’re sharing with our neighbors tonight. And tomorrow morning I’m going to prep the custard for strawberry ice cream, so that we can eat it tomorrow night.

I still have 5-6 pounds of strawberries left. I think I’ll be making some more jelly. And this is only the first weekend of strawberry season!!

So happy to be back in my kitchen!