It's that time of year again. Raspberry season! I love fresh raspberries. My kids love fresh raspberries and the entire family loves raspberry jam. Weirdly enough we are almost always just leaving town or just getting back into town during prime raspberry picking. I get my berries picked for me and boxed up by this great lady by the name of Millie. She calls me when my berries are ready and asks if I need more. She keeps a BERRY LIST by her phone. She knows my name by now, since I have been getting them from her for about 5 or 6 years. The price is incredible! Oh sure, there are U-Pick places but seriously folks - it is not worth it to me to pay just a little bit less, fight with the bees, stand in the sun and not get nearly as many nice berries. Millie is my go to gal for the berries. So today I made 10 pints of raspberry jam. But guess what! These were from last year's berries. Millie taught me early on that since it is insanely HOT during berry season that the best thing to do is freeze them and make them in the fall or winter. Millie is a smart cookie. Me, not so much. I DID make some jam last summer with the fresh berries because we were out of jam and then, because we had vacation plans, I froze many gallon bags full of berries. I intended to make jam all fall, then all winter and then in the spring. I never got around to it. So, in my moderately HOT kitchen this morning (not as bad as the other day), I made jam. Isn't it purdy???
I like making and canning jam and I always think of one of my SILs. She wrote in a canning cookbook that she gave me one year for my birthday (many moons ago), "Be quick, be careful, enjoy canning". I repeat that to myself many times during the process, usually when I am pouring the hot jam into the jars.
I am not sure what I will do with the fresh berries this month. Make some jam right away and be done with it (I will just crank up the A/C and bring a fan into the kitchen) or freeze them as I am on my way out of town again next week. One of my nephews is getting married.
Here is a little dress/top I whipped up for my dd. It is that pre-shirred fabric, just had to sew a seam up the side. We decided a strap would be safer than no strap. ;) New summer dress less than $5 .
Answered prayers today, my friend and the mission team were able to get out of Mexico. I don't know all the details yet but the photocopies and the police report must have done the trick.
Pink survived her root canal and is eating on the right side of her mouth for the time being.
LOVE the title of your post. You are so witty! MMMMM jam looks good. As I was reading the great advice Millie you gave you about freezing and making it in the fall or winter...I was thinking to myself....ummmm then why if it was great advice is she making it NOW! hehehehe. Guess you figured that out too. Well it's the thought that counts about making it then, right?! Hey, at least you made it at all. You could have just let the berries be frozen for eternity and always say you were gonna make it. Anyways, glad you have Millie to do the hard work of picking. :)
ReplyDeleteLove the dress, and I agree, a strap is better than no strap. I'm not a big fan of strapless things, I mean...even if I THINK it is sturdy and staying up, I always think 'what if'. :) cute cute cute.
So glad your mission friends made it back in the USA. I was worried they might have some hassle with the passport mess.
I seem to be doing other things during jam season lately. The last few years have passed me by. I've gotta get back on the wagon and make my yearly jam. Yours is so pretty!
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing that makes me feel more like a country woman than canning. I hate, hate the thought of it but I love, love the end result. Your jars are beautiful. That's the part I love the very most, seeing all the jars on the counter, looking so new and delicious. Well done!!
ReplyDeleteMan, I wish I looked that cute in a little $5 summer dress! Cute.