We rallied the troops this past weekend and journeyed to Berry Patch farms to preserve that summer taste through the dead of winter. While our garden is doing quite well, we just aren’t getting the number of strawberries we need to make enough jam to last us until next summer. Too bad zucchini jam is no good; we are drowning in squash! (any takers?)

Left, left, left right left…

troops

Brinley is a pro at spotting the juicy goodness.

nohands

Picking them is another story. She usually delegates that task to Drew, who eagerly sinks his hand deep into the plant to pluck the berries.

delegator

Drew was pretty selective with his choices…although I do blame him for the rotten or 1/2 eaten berries that somehow made it into our buckets! In his mind, if it’s Lightning McQueen red, it gets picked!

hmmm

I can’t complain though, he is a pretty darn good berry picker. 3+ years of training have paid off!

selective

Wait! Stop! Are these USDA certified organic?

tastetester

Yup, they’re organic. How can I tell? They’re extra juicy!

drip

Brinley hearts butterflies and strawberries.

 iheartberrypatch

1.5 flats of berries: $22. 1 hour at the farm: sweaty. Getting hands on experience: priceless. Now the jam for jam begins!

haul