Strawberry Picking

Strawberries are yummy, but dirt is so much more interesting.

Look Mama, I found more dirt clumps.

Is this how you do it Mama?

Look what I found.  Weeds!!!

Caught red handed, literally.  Henry may have "borrowed" a few berries for his belly.

Our strawberry picking adventure resulted in roughly 24 pounds of strawberries, which amounted to a few pounds for fresh eating, 3 gallon bags of frozen berries and 24 jars of strawberry jam...or perhaps strawberry syrup.  This was my first go at canning.  The consistency of the "jam" I made is more like syrup at this point, but my canning book says it can take up to 2 weeks for jam to completely set.  So, we'll see.  For now, I plan to enjoy my strawberry jam-syrup on waffles, in oatmeal, mixed with yogurt, topped on ice cream...the possibilities are endless.  With 24 jars to consume before next year's strawberry season (which is rather short here in Oregon...just 2-3 weeks), I need a fair number of possibilities. Have I mentioned lately that I love strawberries (okay, okay, I know, I've become a broken record)!  Yum-O