Strawberries!

I think this is the third year in a row that I've been begging to go strawberry picking, and we finally did! J said it was my three-year anniversay present (a week from today), but really, it was perfect. It's a beautiful day, the fields smelled of strawberries, and J and I just worked our way down a couple rows of wonderfully ripe strawberries. In maybe 45 minutes, we cleared around 20 lbs of strawberries--this picture representing only a fraction, really, of our total loot.



I've been working for the last two hours on cleaning & hulling the berries to prepare them for freezing. I've got four gallons of plain, frozen strawberries and one with sugared berries (these I also managed to sneak as small treats).



All of this cleaning/hulling/drying/freezing has made me very curious about canning. I love the idea that the labor I did this morning will keep me full of delicious berries for awhile, and I also like knowing that I am within a stone's throw of the fields. I am going to do some research on buying larger quantities of squash, tomatoes, and beans to can for the rest of the year. I may enlist the help of some maternal experts and lure assistance with the promise of a share in the bounty.

I can't tell you how extremely happy I am out here. It's so nice to spend my driving time driving through open fields, wooded, empty areas, and horse pastures, rather than stop lights, crowded neighborhoods, or businesses smashed together. I have a lot of plans for all of our extra space. I am going to try to start a compost bin out back (J will have to help with its creation) and to begin preparing an area for a proper veggie garden for the next year.

But aside from my nag-champa-burning-hippie-side, all is well.. I have been working on making soaps and I've conquered some new things in the knitting world..

Yesterday was also a pretty nice day. We tried to take Q out to the lake, but it didn't work so well. Of course, freak dog freaked out and we eventually just made one big country block loop back home.

It's been nice having a full weekend off. I hope I get more.