I almost missed Strawberry Season for the second year in a row. Last year I waited until the last possible weekend to pick and came home with a single carton of overly ripe berries. I swore that next year I wouldn’t wait until the last minute. Guess what…I did it again. Facebook kindly reminded me late last week that this was going to be the last weekend for strawberries at the local farms, so I had planned to go Friday after work. And then that didn’t happen, it was hot and I was ready to come home after a long week. So Saturday morning rolled around and I was faced with what again seemed like the last chance, and I had absolutely no desire to get in the car and drive up to Glastonbury where I’ve always gone for all things locally grown. Ever since moving to Wallingford last fall, I’ve had no desire to get in the car and go ANYWHERE on the weekends. Driving into Hartford 5 days a week is pretty much my limit.

So I got online and found Pell Farms in North Haven and thought I’d give it a try. I also found out from their facebook page that their other farm in Somers has had their strawberries featured in deserts at Le Cirque and the Four Seasons in NYC as well as Puritan & Co. in Boston, so they ought be decent, right? My initial inclining was that it may end up getting it a bit pricey, but considering the money I’d save in gas by not driving to Glastonbury, I’d probably break even. Turns out I was wrong, only $2 a pound, and they were delicious! I picked about 9 pounds in a little under an hour and headed home to start washing, canning, and freezing.

This was actually my first time with REAL canning (last year I made freezer jam), as evidenced by the tools I fashioned together below.

I think I’ll buy canning utensils next time. I’ve decided that a jar rack is a must, trying to arrange towels in bowling water to keep the jars upright wasn’t worth the hassle. However, the tongs with rubber bands worked pretty well for removing jars from the pot, but might not work for larger jars. All things considered, it turned out pretty well! Can’t wait to try the jam as well as more canning this summer!

Also made homemade granola this weekend and have been enjoying fresh strawberries with it this week.

Also tried a new recipe from Pinterest. Strawberry avocado sandwiches were surprisingly good!

Hope your week is off to a good start! Check back tomorrow for WIWW!

Dora