Day 38 - Happy Independence Day!

Hope everyone had a fantastic Independence Day!  Granted it was a little wet here and we have decided not to keep the boys up for fireworks but still a good day spent with family.

After church we went home and changed clothes and grabbed some rain gear.  My parents came down and ate breakfast with my brother's family.  I picked up my mom and off we went to the Berry Patch Farm (mom loves blueberries as much as I do).  We decided as long as there was no lightning we'd pick berries in the rain.  Amazingly when we pulled in the yard it stopped raining.  We picked for 3 hours and no rain.  All I have to say is thank you God for such a wonderful window of opportunity!  Mom picked nearly 13 pounds of blueberries.  I picked another 6.5 lbs of blueberries (which brings me to nearly 20 lbs to process tomorrow).

We then picked some red currants.  I plan to use them in a red raspberry and currant jam - I don't think I have enough for jelly.  Which is too bad - when I lived in Germany my host mom made some fantastic red currant jelly.  Although elderberry jelly was my favorite jelly my family made in Germany.  I have tried planting elderberries but none have taken off.  I may have to try again.  After picking currants we headed to the red raspberry patch and picked a few red raspberries.  I'm not sure yet what to do with the red raspberries.  After dropping mom back off at my brother's house I ran home to put the berries away and wait for Grant to wake up from his nap.  Then back to town for supper with family.

Just look at those beautiful currants -

While I was home, mom ran to a bookstore and picked up the new Ball preserving book (the big one - over 400 recipes).  She bought two and lent me one.  I thought I had my berry preserving all planned out for tomorrow but after looking through the book I may decide to change my mind.  The Red Raspberry Sundae syrup looks too good to pass up.  Although just red raspberries over ice cream sounds good.  Oh great, now I have a craving for ice cream and berries.  You know it may just be cheaper in the long run for me to buy some of the blueberry plants the Berry Patch has for sale along with some red raspberry bushes.

Well, luckily I have plenty of sugar, clear jel, lemons and jars so I should be able to make just about any recipe I need to.  Sheesh - at this rate I should just try for every class of jam next year.  Although technically I shouldn't have to make jam next year with as much as we have right now (although a second batch of strawberry would have been good - definitely will make two batches or more of peach).  Well, this just means I'll have to give jam away as Christmas gifts this year.

Ah - what a great day!  I still can't believe our luck with the rain!  Clark had a great day too - he got to play with his cousins all afternoon which always makes him so happy.  Plus, he got to see grandma and grandpa!   While Grant was getting ready for bed I pulled out a game for Clark and I to play (Very Hungry Caterpillar).  This was Clark's first board game - he didn't do too bad.  I think he is hooked - next time I'm going to pull out good ol' Candy Land and try that with him!