The Strawberry Project

This morning, bright and early, we headed to Tidwell's Berry Farm for some of these .........

Our boys helped the men at the Berry Farm unload their truck (coming FRESH from the fields), and then we purchased 4 flats (32 overflowing quarts).

The drive home was torture --- the delicate scent of FRESH STRAWBERRIES was almost too much to bear with the HANDS OFF policy we had agreed on ahead of time. (well, we HAD to sample a few to ensure that each quart was fresh, and then we had to eat some to sustain us on that longggggg drive home from the Berry Farm .... but we did not eat too many ....).

Really, we did NOT eat TOO many. (hee hee hee)

Here are the 4 flats of berries, after they were unloaded from the car.

We had lunch, and then set to work. The children washed, topped, and chopped them all -- in an hour and a half !! (We are an Army when we get moving in the same direction on a project !!)

Then we pureed the berries in the food processor, and put 4 cups of puree into each Ziploc bag. We now have 16 Ziploc bags (4c each bag) of Strawberry Puree.

OK, well, we ate more than a "few" berries .... but I have to mention that we also sliced a whole quart to have for dessert tonight with pound cake and whipped cream (with some left over for homemade strawberry milkshakes) .... but we DO have a lot left .... for when the time comes to make Homemade Strawberry Jam.

We have not purchased our new canning supplies yet, but in the mean while we thought it best to store up enough fresh fruit to make jams and jellies with later this summer.

There is almost nothing that tastes better than Homemade Strawberry Jam on homebaked bread. ** (insert Yummy Noises here) **

** Our next Fruit Project will be Blueberries at the end of June, and then the Peaches will be ready just after the July4th weekend. (Our tummies are thankful for a reprieve between fruit seasons. HA !)