The weather has been crazy here at the pickle farm this past few weeks. Torrents of rain (more rain in 24 hours that we had in a whole month this time last year) and then warm and sunny and then more rain… and more rain… then hot… and then more rain!
Until recently we were still experiencing drought conditions, so I know that we should be very thankful for the rain, and I am, really I am… But I confess, I am just a little bit frustrated by the days and days of constant rain. The HUGE storms that are washing away what’s left of our drive way and leaving the majority of our ten acres under a few cms of water, making a perfect breeding ground for the killer mosquitoes. Just when it seems the ground will dry out enough for us to start digging the foundations for our renovations, it rains again. And it rains and it rains and it rains…
But the plus side to all this crazy rainy-sunny-rainy weather is that the strawberry plants have gone mad!
They are covered in huge lush green leaves and a week or two ago they were crammed with pretty white flowers. Now, instead of flowers, there are berries! Big, ripe, red, lush, strawberries!
We picked nearly 3 kilos of strawberries on Friday afternoon, and that is not counting all the ones we ate while picking!
We lugged the big bucket of berries inside and Muski and I set about sorting them into a big bowl to eat and a HUGE bowl to make into jam.
My beautiful, wild, rough, blonde headed, boy stood beside me at the kitchen bench happily hulling his own berries and saying “one for me, one for the pot”. Sweet strawberry juice ran down my chin and the chin of the smallest member of our family as he tasted a strawberry for the first time (though he didn’t seem to like it much!). The Father Figure stood stirring the big jam pot and the house filled with the sweetest of aromas. The sun shone in the window and the sky was blue for a while….
At that moment I was thankful for the sunshine, and the strawberries, and even the rain.
Then it started to rain again… and it hasn’t stopped since.
Still, home made strawberry jam on piklets for afternoon tea almost makes up for it!
If I ever live in a house again going to have me a vegie & fruit garden/trees again.
Miss some of the things you can’t grow in Units
(((( Hugs ))))
mmm mmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Homemade strawberry jam? Yum!
This might be my favourite post title ever! LOL
all I can say is, “I’m Jealous!!!!!” There is nothing green as far as I can see right now- just dreary brown November in middle of the US!
Those are so pretty!
Yum! I doubt well even get strawberries on pancakes with our two plants….we do have one baby tomato on the way that gets checked at least 10 times a day by Nathan.