Strawberry Season 2012

Here in Indiana, June is strawberry season!  On Saturday, #1, Jelly Bean, and I went strawberry picking.  It was Jelly Bean's first pick.  #1 is a one year strawberry picking veteran.   I do this every year..  I don't remember when I decided this would be a good way to spend my time, but I've been doing it for a while.

I always pick our strawberries at Cedar Creek Produce in Leo, Indiana.  Like them on Facebook, they post updates on berry picking, and their phone number and address is located on their page.

#1 and Jelly Bean with the "real bear" at Cedar Creek Produce.

 We picked strawberries for about two and a half hours.

You can fit 5 pounds of strawberries into the bucket Jelly Bean is holding.

 #1 and Jelly Bean FILLED one bucket each during our picking session.

Jelly Bean's "big berry"

#1's big berry

 We also had a contest to see who could find the biggest berry.

#1 is my Creative Artsy Girl, she found a heart shaped strawberry :)

We picked a total of 18.75 pounds of strawberries on Saturday.  Sunday we went back with one of my best friends, and her 3 children.  On Sunday we picked 14.02 pounds.

 In case you are wondering what I did with all these berries...

I made 18 half pints of strawberry rhubarb jam,  28 half pints of strawberry jam, and 4 pints of strawberry syrup.  

I canned for three days.  I also helped my friend who has never canned, can 44 jars of strawberry jam.  One Monday at 11:30pm I lost my steam and froze enough strawberries for another batch of strawberry rhubarb jam, another batch of strawberry syrup, and I froze crushed strawberries in ice cube trays to use for strawberry butter cream icing (which is the most requested icing in this house.)

To sum it up...  

Strawberry Season 2012

32.77 pounds of strawberries were picked

46 Jars of my jam were canned

I helped my friend can 44 jars of her jam

4 jars of strawberry syrup were canned

Washed, hulled, and crushed strawberries were frozen for future batches of jam, syrup, and icing.