Freezer Jam with Toddlers

Friday morning was my turn to host the babies playgroup for my Mothers and More group. About half of the babies that come to this group also have older siblings, so I thought it might be fun to make some freezer jam with the older kids. I had every intention of collecting my own locally-grown, organic strawberries at the peak of freshness and flavor. Not possible this year. The weather was against me. It's been raining hard almost constantly for a week and not one of the U-Pick strawberry patches was willing to let unprofessionals mess up their strawberry-laden mud fields. Disappointing, but I can't really blame them.

The jam-making itself went really well. There were two 3 year olds and one 8 year old. A very manageable crowd. The kids pulled off the green leaves, I cut off the stems, we used a food processor to "crush" the berries, and the kids got to measure out the sugar and pour in the instant pectin. Voila! No cooking, no smooshing, and lots of enthusiasm from the kids. Each step in the activity was short enough that it kept their attention. One 3 year old asked, "Why are you making jam? You know you can buy jam at the store?" I explained that I liked the taste of this jam much better than store jam and she quietly examined me with a puzzled look on her face.

They liked the jam, but they liked the orange juice better. Oh well, more for me :)

CSA share June 3rd

The picture isn't great because our REAL camera's batteries ran out of juice and I didn't want to go rummaging for the charger while those two pints of strawberries just sat around waiting for me to take their picture. Those babies were calling my name the second I smelled them. So the picture was taken from Bobby's cell phone. Not bad. You even get a peek at Alice's chunky legs and my Mom-hands. I'm actually quite happy with the way my hands look. They're just like I remember my mom's hands looking when I was young...kinda boney and veiny. Working hands.

2# rhubarb

1/2 # salad mix

2 pints strawberries

1 small bunch garlic chives

We're eating the berries fresh (Alice is addicted!), the salad mix is as bold as ever, and this batch of rhubarb may be frozen for later use...maybe for October when it's almost cool enough to use the oven again. Is rhubarb any good on the grill?

Alice snippets

Fun snippets about Alice recently:

• She's just started using her eyebrows in her facial expressions. I never noticed their immobility until they became mobile. Alice was standing in front of the bathroom mirror this morning and I handed her something odd. She furrowed her brow, stuck out some pouty lips and said, "Huuuh?" Then she saw her expression in the mirror and flashed a squinty grin at herself.


• She chased a swarm of gnats in our backyard this morning.


• Silverware is an important part of a balanced breakfast.


• A good, soft tickle can get her to freeze for two whole minutes. Her teeny weeny goosebumps feel like leathery skin.


• I was holding a baby (this babe was almost as large as Alice herself, but clearly younger) on my lap yesterday when Alice came over and started to fuss, signing that she wanted to sit on my lap. I figured she was jealous (we've had a few hands-on lessons in sharing recently) so I handed back the baby and pulled Alice onto my lap. Alice burst into tears as soon as she was settled and she reached out for the baby. What a surprise to me! Alice wanted to sit WITH the baby ON my lap. So that's what we did. She smiled at him, pointed to him, made the sign for baby, and they checked out each other's toes.


• High pitched sounds cause her cry. Whistles, especially. Other kids yelling/crying cause her to cry. I get the feeling her transition into the nursery at church (at the end of this summer) may be a little difficult.

Farmer Bob

This is my farmer, Bob Brackett, at the Urbana Farmer's Market last Saturday. The newspaper took this photo, not me. I'm still too shy to talk to the man.

Bobby's Sunday Summary

Nothing too terribly new and exciting happened this week that Susan didn’t already write about on the blog.  We think Alice is going through a growth spurt.  She has been sleeping and eating a lot lately, not to mention that she has shot up half an inch in the past little while.  She has also started to have a bit more of an independent streak to her.  She very much wants to feed herself and is constantly trying and failing to get dressed by herself.  Happily, she is still willing to accept our help, and not too terribly upset when she cannot do it herself.