Lon Picks Strawberries!

Today was not as warm as it was yesterday. It was overcast, a little breeze and on and off rain. We still went swimming. It was not like he was not going to get wet.  Michelle and Chong told us about this u-pick strawberry place up near Carnation that was really nice.  The berries were little, but very good. I thought it would be very fun to show Lon.   The strawberries are very late this year. They say they are going to be around till the 20th of July. This is from the Washington State U-Pick website :

Harvold Berry Farm - raspberries (red), strawberries,
Highway # 203 (Carnation-Duvall Road NE), Carnation, WA 98014. Phone: 425-333-4185. Email: nharvold@yahoo.com. Open: Strawberries from 8 am to 8 pm everyday; Raspberry picking hours vary, phone or e - mail for more information. Directions: Located at the north side of the town of Carnation on highway #203, the Carnation-Duvall Road. Click here for a map and directions. Strawberry U-Pick from the middle of June to July 4; Raspberries from approximately July 5 to August 10. Payment: Cash, only. We have been a family owned farm for over 50 years.

Lon looking at all the little red gems! We got a box in a basket to fill up. When we started I did not know how big those boxes really were!

Picking!

Filling his box

This is really fun, but hard. Who knew farming was so hard Mommy?  We overheard some very fun comments from other pickers. One group of young women were really freaked out by bugs. There were BUGS. Really, bugs on the dirt. In the berry patch. And there was alot of dirt! I was laughing. Imagine, dirt in a berry field!

Little red gem

Lon and his box

Mommy's basket. I thought it might be 4 or 5 pounds.

Going to weigh in

The nice young man telling me how many pounds we have. Lon had 3 1/2 pounds.  Mommy's box was 14 pounds. Oh wow! That is alot of berries!

Red sticky hands!

Mommy's red hands

Getting Lon's berries ready to cook!

Ready to go into the pot

Starting to cook the berries down to jam! Lon wanted to help, but since jam gets really hot, I said no.  After this, I could not take any more photos of the cooking process since I had to stir stir stir! It is a slow cook jam, it has two ingredients, sugar and strawberries.  Nothing else.

The finished jam! Lon did not let me put any berries I picked in his basket. These berries are all his. He can decide what we do with the jam! If he wants to give some to his friends that would be great!