This summer we planted a garden for the first time in this house. I won't lie...it didn't go great. It was weird...a lot of stuff just never came up. Not sure what I did wrong. But that said, the things that did grow were really yummy. We got some pea pods, some carrots, some purple-green beans, and a good crop of yellow and red onions.
But of course my favorite are the raspberries...tons and tons of
raspberries. My kids got so sick of picking them that they would
complain about it as if I were asking them to pick weeds!! So crazy. I
actually love picking berries, although it can be time consuming, I found it fun and soothing. We
were able to make quite a few batches of jam and then freeze some bags
of berries to use in smoothies or other desserts throughout the winter.
These were our "picking cups" -- I would ask each kid to fill a cup whenever it was time to pick (about every 3 days for about 3 weeks). You would not believe the groans I would get. They don't realize how lucky they are to have raspberries like this just growing in their backyard!!!
I can't tell you how much I love these berries!! I don't really enjoy eating them plain, but I love raspberry jam! And I love how much yield you get for how little effort is put in. Isn't that terrible!?!
We also went Huckleberry picking twice this season. This experience is the COMPLETE opposite of our bounteous raspberry bushes. You have to drive about 30 minutes to get to the spot where they grow. Then you have to hike all over the mountainside in search of these tiny little berries. They can be so elusive. Then when you find a bush you are thrilled if there are 5 or 6 berries on one bush before you move onto the next spot. We actually found some really good spots and I even found a bush that had 40 berries on it (unbelievable!) But after hours and hours of picking...with all 6 of us...we were still only able to get about 5 cups of fruit. CRAZY!! We ration these out like you wouldn't believe. We did a Huckleberry Coffee Cake, a Huckleberry Cheesecake, and some Huckleberry-Raspberry jam. And then they were gone.
Oh, and then I went all domestic crazy and ordered a box of peaches and a box of pears! They were so delicious, but a lot of work. I canned, made peach pie filling, and dried pears until we were so burnt out...but it was worth it!
There is just nothing like the Harvest Season.
4 comments:
I am so jealous of those raspberries! I need to time a visit to your house during that harvest next year! Do you have a steam canner? Your boxes of fruit must be bigger up there than the little half bushel boxes they sell around here now. That's a lot of peaches bottled!
Wow, I can't tell you how proud and impressed I am! Sadie, that carrot is huge! Yes, I am jealous of the raspberries. I go crazy when they are 99 cents a little container, and they don't taste real like yours! Did you learn to can from me, or did one of your sisters teach you? Way to go Heather and the whole family!
Holy cow! I am so impressed. We love raspberries, I need to plant some next year. I'm super jealous of that bounty!
I love summer with all the harvest as well. There is something soothing and stress relieving for me to work out in my yard. And though the canning is such a pain, nothings tastes as good as home canned fruit, tomatoes, and salsa. Good job on being so domestic. You deserve the Betty Crocker award or something like that!
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