Canning, Canning and More Canning

Molly picking berries!

So these past two weekends have been full of strawberry picking and canning. Strawberry season came a little early this year in Washington, so we've been taking full advantage of it! There is a u-pick place in Arlington, WA, at Biringer Farms. Super fun place and family friendly. It's only $2.25 a pound, which is a great price considering these strawberries are about $10 for half a flat at the local grocery store. These strawberries are super sweet and ripe, so you have to eat them or can them within 24-48 hours after picking.

My sister and canning-partner-in-crime and I have been cleaning out all of our local Goodwills for canning jars. We love thrift store shopping and buying items that are unique and fun. Its also a smaller footprint on the environment to buy used and cheaper! Only $0.20 a jar and it doesn't matter what size. We plan on doing a lot of pickling, so we're going to need loads of large jars.

 Also, my husband and I have been super busy in the garden and so far we've planted a bing cherry, rainier cherry, puget apricot, fuji apple, and gala apple trees! We're super excited to have a bunch of fun fruit trees and we've also planted a few blueberry bushes. Next year we should have a ton of fresh fruit!

We've canned loads of strawberry jam, strawberry lavender jam and strawberry orange compote. Over 50 jars! We can't wait to can more jams and jellies.