Strawberry Time

16 quarts of berries
Finished the night with (12)-8 ounce jars and (32)-4 ounce jars

Pretty Jelly in a jar

22 vacuum packed freezer bags with 2 cups each

Saturday morning Rambo man, Kara and I headed to the strawberry patch to pick up our years supply of berries, with temps in the high 90's and a baby on our hip we opted out of picking your own. Had to pay a little extra for a case already picked but it was money well spent!! They still came out cheaper than the grocery store, the flavor is out of this world, plus they are locally grown!!

I started canning after supper dishes Saturday night. I can tell you I was dog a.. tired when I got up this morning but canning at night sure beats the heat of the day. Today I finished working the rest of the berries to go in the freezer; smoothies, strawberry bread, muffins, and pancakes this winter will be a real treat. Held a big bowl back for strawberry shortcake at Sunday dinner tonight and threw 3 trays in the dehydrator. If we like the dehydrated berries I might pick up and additional 4 quarts but dehydrated fruit hasn't been a big hit around here other than bananas and apples.

We had 4 packs of frozen berries left from last year and (6) jars of 4 ounce jelly so I did pretty good figuring out what it would take to get us through the year, I did up the volume a bit for this year in hopes that Rambo man might get to be around the house more!!

The upcoming week will be crammed full, just thinking about it all makes me want to take to my bed!! I started increasing my meds last week by 25 milligrams each week, my blood work showed I was WAY low, it will take a month of dragging around until I get the dose where it needs to be then a few more weeks to adjust to the increase, canning season is not the time to be lethargic!! I sorta knew I was out of whack before the blood work confirmed it, I have been struggling with numbers, skipping words and a little off balance on my feet for awhile, I was trying to blame it on keeping up with the babies but no such luck!! Rambo man picked up on my troubles pretty quick. I try to keep a watchful eye on the electric bill by turning off lights and appliances when we don't need them, he on the other hand likes the place lite up like Christmas. With lights on at night and the TV running what seems to be 24-7 I was becoming more confused a sure sign of low meds. Thank goodness for good insurance or we would be forking over too much cash!

Are you getting in on some of the deals for local grown fruit and veggies as they come in season? This is a great way to stretch you families food dollar, help the local farmers and eat good clean food. In our area we do have a few new organic farms who's prices are sky high but I stick to the local farms. These folks are not huge conglomerate farms, they don't use all the chemicals because they can't afford them and don't trust what they might do to their food. Keep an eye out at your local farmers market, some of the people are not really local farmers. If I see a vendor who is selling banana's, avocado's and lemons at his/her stand it makes me wonder where in the heck they are growing that stuff in NC? Give me a farmer in overalls, that knows how to spit and doesn't mind scratching what itches in public any day over the others.