Another Jam Session

QFC is selling strawberries for $1.25 a pound this week, provided you purchase four pounds. Such a great deal screamed to me that it was time to make some jam. Well that, and we are out of strawberry jam.

Someday I want to have my own strawberry patch. That is my dream. Well, not my entire dream; I also want blackberries (in a steel lined container, to keep the spread controlled!), raspberries and blueberries. I also want a few apple trees, a lemon tree, and a partridge in a pear tree (partridge optional). Of course I do like my vegetables, too. Lots of vegetables. A nice compost bin and a chicken coop with a variety of chickens giving me beautiful fresh eggs daily. Oh, and maybe a gardener to keep everything organic, bug free and plentiful... and somebody else to clean out that coop!

Out of dream land and into this week. These strawberries have been on my counter and staring at me since Wednesday:

This afternoon Geoff took the girls out of the house, and I washed, cut and mashed the berries. Here they are awaiting their mushy fate.

Last summer while my brother and his family were visiting, we went to a berry farm to pick raspberries. What is stuck in my memory the strongest, though, is the drive past the strawberry fields. The aroma was heavenly.

Today I couldn't help but sink my teeth into a few of these gems while preparing them. It's no wonder that strawberries are on the list of sensual foods. They are firm, juicy, and the mouth feel...like a delicious kiss.

Here is a picture of the jam cooking up in my new stockpot that Geoff gave me for Christmas. Lucky stockpot.

The fruit (hee-hee) of my labors:

Next project: Making a quilt for Madeline out of these fabrics (she loves purple):