Berry Picking

This was the year, I thought. Time to start berry picking and making my own jam. I haven't done it since before Evelyn was born. Both kids are old enough now. Both kids will love it. Right?

To make the deal even sweeter for my two cherubs, the farm we went to had a HUGE play structure made out of an old combine/tractor. Certainly that would be enticement to get berries picked with good 'ol mom. Right?

Negative, ghost rider.

Okay, okay.. it wasn't all bad. They both were very well behaved and didn't run off or eat all the berries, etc. Evelyn really loved picking berries and was actually quite the speedy picker. I actually might have eaten more than she did out in the field! HAHA! We had two buckets full in a relatively short period of time.She was super excited when I taught her that some of the best berries lie behind the "pricklies", the prickly weed that grow between the plants. Most stay away from them, but if you gently push them aside, you find untouched, big and sweet berries!

Matthew on the other had, had absolutely NO interest in picking berries. He stood at the end of the rows with our wagon, watching Ev and I do all the work. He didn't fuss, didn't even move. He just stood there and watched. I invited him to come help several times, but no. He just waited for us to fill our buckets, occasionally braving it and joining us for a moment or two. I felt bad, but he really didn't seem to mind. Silly kid!

Sadly, the great play structure the farm had was a bit too big and overwhelming for my two. The slides were too steep, the structure too tall. They were happy to head home and try again next year. I was pretty proud of them being such good sports about the whole thing.

Here are the only two pics of the two of them. Sigh...

During Matthew's nap, Evelyn and I made jam. We had such a good time chatting, laughing and tasting the sweet strawberries! It was a great two hours with just my girl!

Oh.. and the jam turned out pretty good, too!!