Strawberries

Owen and I went out the Shenk's Berry Farm Friday to pick strawberries which are currently in season here. Owen enjoyed filling his bucket until he got spooked by a spider. After that, he was very reluctant to pick on his own and would occasionally pick a few for his bucket if I held the leaves back for him.

He enjoyed pretending to be Little Sal and repeated a zillion times that he was going to take a "tremendous mouthful" of berries. We filled 2, 1-gallon buckets in about half an hour. At $1.35/lb., they came to $10 and some change.
Shenk's is a quaint little family farm. The farmer checked us in when we arrived and sent us to find his wife who showed us where to start picking. Their son checked us out and made sure Owen had a sticker before we left. I think we might go back next week before the season ends and get a few more berries, and we will definitely go for blueberries and raspberries later in the summer.
We stopped by Abram's office and shared some strawberries and picnic lunch. That night, we had them with Owen bread (coconut flour short cakes) and left over birthday ice cream.

Saturday morning, we made strawberry jam - yes, jam, with sugar. Don't worry, it will be shared and used very sparingly :o).


Owen Bread (or coconut flour short cakes)
1/3 c. coconut flour
1/4 c. coconut oil
4 eggs
1-3t. honey (may omit)
1/4 t. salt

Blend wet ingredients, add salt and flour. Mix well. Drop 8-10 onto a jellyroll pan and bake at 400F for 12-15 minutes.


Strawberry Jam
4 c. mashed strawberries
4 c. sugar
1/4 c. lemon juice

Clean, pare, and mash strawberries to get 4 cups. Stir in sugar and lemon juice, and bring to a boil. Continue boiling until a small bit cooled on a spoon gels to desired thickness (for me about 20 minutes). Stir constantly. Pour into sterilized jars and process in a water bath for 5 minutes.