Strawberries, Raspberries, and Picking a Wife!

Hello and Happy Summer to You!

 Hope you've had a chance to get outside and go picking some berries at your local farms! Here's a little glimpse of my last visit.

I loaded my two boys (Tristan 6, and Elliot 4) into the Suburban and headed out to the countryside to pick some luscious Raspberries ( my absolute favorite berry ever!) I only gave them a few rules: Only pick the dark red ones, keep your sweatshirts on so your arms don't end up scratchy, and DON'T EAT ANY BERRIES UNTIL THEY ARE WEIGHED AND PAID FOR!  Well, about 2 seconds into this adventure I shot this photo (above)....and then 2 seconds later I shot this next one:

Hmmmmmm.......Elliot's hand is lurking dangerously close to his mouth wouldn't you agree?!?!?!? Needless to say I had to bend the rules just a bit ( Hey, Morals are a high priority to me...but once in awhile you need to be motivated by the sweet taste of success to be propelled to put the pedal to the metal and PICK!!!!!) I allowed each boy to eat 3 berries; one after each 20 picked! Now that's MOTIVATION!!!

See?....

I have such great kids! :o)

It's priceless watching your 4 year old scream with glee when he finds the motherload of all motherloads hidden beneath some branches!

And, when your 6 year old has a smile that big about being able to help make jam later....well....it just makes a mother's heart sing!

I have to add this: Tristan later said this " Mom, I'd like to be a berry farmer someday....I could go out and pick berries in the morning and bring them to my wife. She could bake me a pie while I worked, and we could have it for dessert after dinner!"  OH HOW MY HEART JUST SWELLED! We dropped what we were doing and prayed for Tristan's future wife right then and there....after all, it isn't always easy to find a woman who wants to bake pies for her husband these days! I know my future daughter-in-law is out there somewhere picking berries and helping her mommy in the kitchen bake a pie! Whether Tristan will become a farmer or not is irrelevant...the fact that he wants to provide for, and be loved by his future wife is AMAZING!!! Kids really do pick up on more than we realize! :o)

We also had to pick up some "jam" strawberries as they are at the end of their season....but we pulled a few out to eat with our fingers. This "triplet" was saved for, and eaten by Dad when he got home from work. We made strawberry jam, shortcakes, and crushed our raspberries for making more jam later...

After a long day picking and working in the kitchen, I let the boys go outside and play in the old fashioned vintage tractor sprinkler. Boy oh boy....Elliot....you really are gullible and naieve! Your big brother has that loaded hose pinched! I TOTALLY saw this one coming!!! Ah brotherly love! :o)

Well, I hope you are having a great day, and I'd love to hear your berry stories! Do you have great simple recipes? Berry fights? I'd love for you to share them! 

Cheers to you!

Trish :o)