Strawberry Extravaganza

So, I have been looking on Craig's List for a U-pick strawberry farm to take the kids to. We ran out of freezer jam last week and can't stand to buy another jar of the store bought stuff. I found an ad for one out in Molalla that had strawberries for 65 cents a pound! Yesterday morning Mom and I packed up the boys and headed for the country.
When we arrived at the farm, I had a little talk with the boys about not eating the berries until we were done picking and had paid for them. They both nodded in agreement and then unlocked the car doors and let em loose. As mom and I were having our containers weighed before the picking began, Cart yells "Hey Mom, I ate a strawberry!" As I started in on one of my "didn't you listen to me?" lectures, he just laughs and says "Just kidding, I didn't eat one!" and runs off to fill his container. What a kid! How in the heck do they know how to push buttons like that?
It took us about 45 minutes to pick 28 pounds of those beautiful berries. We got home and went to work rinsing and cleaning and slicing and mashing. When all was said and done, we ended up with 34 half pints of freezer jam and 8 pints of strawberry syrup(delicious on waffles or ice cream). What a day! Just to make sure it was good stuff, we had waffles for dinner with homemade buttermilk syrup and fresh strawberry jam. Heavenly.