So Berry Sweet

I read online that the berries were ripe at a local berry farm and decided I wanted to take Addison to pick Strawberries at Sodt's Berry Farm so that we could make up some Strawberry Jam..YUM, my FAV!  I posted on Facebook about going and one of my friends from High School said she'd like to go along with her daughter who is close to the same age as Addison.  Just 3 months ish older.

The girls ate berries and ran up and down the rows of strawberries (ok mine ran in the rows of strawberries)  We saw a ton of people there that we knew.  It was a good day for strawberry picking I guess.

there were some strawberry messes, but nothing like I expected there to be.

After we got home Addison took a nice long nap and mommy started mashing/pureeing/mixing strawberries in the kitchen.  And I was reminded just how much my kitchen lacks counter space...OMG!  

As much as I hate my washer and dryer being in the kitchen thankfully it is cause I'm not sure where else I would be able to put half my crap if it wasn't!

Yes, my friends this is what I have to work with for counter space.

Lack of kitchen space be damned, I was still able to accomplish canning/freezing 10 lbs of berries on Saturday.  We have strawberry freezer jam, strawberry-grape freezer jam, the most amazing strawberry lemonade concentrate, strawberry chocolate sauce & strawberry butter.  I'd still like to get a bit more to make strawberry syrup if I could find the recipe I used last year...:(  I seem to have forgotten where I put it and where I found it to begin with!

Canning, Canning, Canning...

It's tomato season and I've been busy getting my canning on the last few days.

 It is utterly amazing the quantity of tomatoes that it takes to make a few jars of spaghetti style tomato sauce, it really simmers down to nothing!

  So far two laundry baskets of tomatoes have equaled 10 quarts of tomato sauce, and working on a batch of stewed tomatoes right now.

 Next round I think is salsa, then of course more sauce as the Roma's start getting ripe!

  I swear all year I crave fresh from the vine tomatoes, then all the sudden they are coming out of my ears!!

You Know Fall Is On The Way

At least in Michigan when the tomatoes start getting ready its a good indication that summer is drawing to a close and its time to start canning!

I picked my first large batch of tomatoes out of the garden the other day and decided I had to get them used up yesterday so I made a small batch of tomato sauce up.

of course a large basket of tomatoes soon boiled down to a dinner sized portion of tomato sauce for the two of it but it was Oh, So, Good!  Ready for more so we can get some canned, hoping to do twice as much as last year as we used it all up before Christmas!

Do you do any canning?  What is your favorite thing from the garden to can?