Back to the land

After a few consecutive days of bad weather, I woke up and knew today was going to be a good one.  Added bonus of having all of us home for a Saturday morning for a change, and I am full of verve and energy to make today count.

After breakfast, we jumped in the car and headed to Concord to visit this farm and pick some strawberries.  It is a beautiful outfit, with fields surrounding a farmstand with beautiful produce, dry goods, and a made-to-order breakfast sandwich bar (sold!).  All was quite promising as we made our way to the fields.

We got down to business right away. We arrived shortly after they opened, and there were already about ten families (all with young children, no surprise) there, but the patch is expansive enough that we had multiple rows to ourselves.  And let me just say that the strawberries were gorgeous.  The baby just installed herself in between two particularly lush rows and chowed down for the 30 minutes that her father and I were toiling.  In that time we picked over 7 1/2 pounds and I now have those bodacious beauties sitting in my refrigerator, waiting only for a trip to the store to pick up some pectin.  Half will be eaten immediately, and half or so will be made into the first batch of strawberry jam of the season.  Stay tuned for canning with a toddler underfoot -- hopefully far less dangerous than it sounds.

The sun in shining, our hands and faces are stained with strawberries, and it's Saturday nap time. All's right with the world.