Strawberry bounty!!

I went to a local farm to pick strawberries this morning after I dropped the fam off at work/school.  This is the first week of the season here in New Jersey.  It will run for about 3 weeks.

Crappy cell phone pic of Sporacio Farms:

I picked just shy of 10 pounds.  They cost me just over 13 bucks!  I think I’ll take the kids back tomorrow morning.  We’ll have to get up EARLY though.  I also stopped at Walmart for a case of pint canning jars and some accessories.  I will attempt canning for the first time tonight.  I can’t wait.  I’m going to make standard and sugar free strawberry jam.

This is actually a really important event for me, as canning is a family tradition I have wanted to carry on for a long time.  I’ve just never worked up the nerve to give it a shot on my own.  I used to can all sorts of things with my grandmother, and I can’t WAIT to call her this evening to tell her I did it myself!  She will be pleased.  There aren’t too many people that carry on family traditions these days, whether they be the art of canning one’s own food, knitting or crocheting or making traditional recipes for the holiday, and in my family, I am the only one who has any interest in all of the above.  Le sigh … hopefully I can instill the love of tradition I have in my own children.  I wonder what went wrong with my cousins that makes them not give a damn?  Oh well.  There’s no accounting for the actions of others …