Strawberries

I so look forward to strawberry season every year. It's an inexact science so we never know exactly when the first ones will hit the farmstands, but by the second week in June they are always everywhere. It's one of the greatest sights I know, all those green containers piled high with bright red berries, and I love knowing they were picked fresh that morning. And the taste...well the taste is a little bit of heaven for sure.

When we were kids we used to go with my mother to pick them in the field. They were 25 cents if you picked your own and 35 cents if you bought a quart the farmer had picked. My mother thought the price difference was huge and she'd enlist the whole crew to help her out when it was time to make her famous strawberry jam. We would come home with lots of berries and she'd spend the next two days putting jam in mason jars to last us through the winter.

I haven't made jam in years and I'm feeling a little nostalgic for it right now. I'm thinking I may go shopping for some certo and mason jars this week and do a little work in my kitchen...for old times sake. Mom would be so glad.