Strawberry Gleaning

On Wednesday I went strawberry picking with my friend Charlene.

Charlene is the queen of good deals, and these strawberries cost: $0! Yup, since the farm was getting ready to till under the second year plants, they were letting people come glean for free! (If you are in the Salem area, you should check them out. They still had quite a few yesterday.)

There were a lot of good strawberries, and even more not good ones. That is what gleaning seems to be all about, what you lose in time (looking for the good fruits or veggies) you make up for in money (its all FREE!). Since I have plenty of time, and not a lot of money, it seems like a great trade to me!

Ideally I would use a portion of the berries to make jam. But since I have never made jam before and don't have any pectin, I think I am just going to continue my plan of freezing them for smoothies and snacking. I know I could easily look up how to make jam, but I would probably put it off until the strawberries were all moldy and gross.

The downside of picking your own food is that there are a lot of bugs and spiders in fields. It is pretty gross. Luckily I didn't see any snakes. I have a healthy (abnormal?) fear (phobia?) of snakes, and anytime I am doing something outside, I am terrified that I will run into one. I think this is Biblically sound thinking though:

Imagine my disgust when I woke up Thursday morning and realized I had spider bites on my face, scalp, and arms. Spiders had been CRAWLING on me in the strawberry field. Or at least that is what I am hoping. It sure beats the alternative of spiders crawling on me in bed.

Spiders and fear of snakes aside, it was a fun, productive day. I can't wait to do more gleaning with Salem Harvest this year. Free, local food, that I pick myself is awesome!

Friday Favorites (my favorite blog posts I found this week):

This post may be linked up at one of these wonderful blog hops:

Comments

Things That Annoy Infertile Girls (or Maybe Just Me?) - Flashback Friday

This was actually one of my more popular posts when it was first published, but I still thought I would share it again. Any additions to the post are in pink, as usual :) Accidental Pregnancies - So I have been trying for years to get pregnant, you go slut around and accidentally get pregnant? Immediate Pregnancies - You quit taking your birth control last month and now you are pregnant? People Who Give You Retarded Advice - - Just stop trying and you will get pregnant - My friend adopted a baby and got pregnant right away, you should do that - Get drunk, people always get pregnant when they are drunk (Yes, they do. Because they are intoxicated and forget to take precautions.) Whiny Girls That Pretend They Are ...

Breastfeeding An Adopted Child - The Tenth Day of Christmas

Today we are hearing from Teglene. Her story is pretty long, but trust me, it is totally worth reading through! She also has a great blog, called The Breastfeeding Mother . I always knew I wanted to breastfeed my children. I couldn ’t imagine doing it any differently. I was lucky enough to give birth to two beautiful boys and I enjoyed breastfeeding them both. Not that it was easy or without struggle, but it was what I wanted to do and loved doing it. In fact, I liked it so much, and felt so passionate about breastfeeding that I became a La Leche League Leader, so that I could help other breastfeeding moms. I really took to the idea of “Mothering through breastfeeding”. It wasn ’t just a feeding method for me, but a relationship with my child. My husband and I always talked about adopting a child who needed a family. We thought, if we can’t have kids of our own then we will adopt. Even if we can have kids of our own, maybe we will still adopt. After the birt...

Manipulatives Monday GIVEAWAY from Mother Goose Time - closed

Giveaway closed! Thank you so much to everyone who entered, I really appreciate it! I have excellent news! Today is Manipulatives Monday, and Mother Goose Time is giving away a great prize! One lucky winner will receive TWO bags of manipulatives! Mother Goose Time will chose the prizes, but I assure you, whatever they send will be a lot of fun for your children! Manipulatives are a big hit in our house. Every month we get two new bags of manipulatives, and every month Little Guy asks if he can play with them before the month starts. The answer is always no, but he tries every month anyways. During the month we use them for the assigned activities but after we are done with the curriculum, I let him add them to his toy collection. One thing that is in almost every box is a set of counters. These are often in the shape of animals, which are Little Guy's favorites. They are used for a variety of activities, and are alwa...

Wife, Then Mama

Search This Blog