strawberries galore

One beautiful Spring morning my little helper and I went strawberry picking. We had a delicious fun time. (Note to self: Do not dress berry pickers in WHITE shirts.) ;)

Here's the stats of our trip:

4 hands 

1.5 hours

14 lbs

$1.75/lb = $24.50

1 Good Samaritan* (Story to follow)

Double batch of strawberry sauce

Single batch strawberry jam

Single batch low sugar strawberry jam 

(which I REALLY like- may make this my EVERYTIME strawberry jam recipe)

Here's the story of the Good Samaritan- before we left, I guesstimated we'd pick maybe 10 lbs of berries, so I brought enough cash for just that. (Side note: The night before I'd cleaned out my wallet and decided I didn't need to carry my checkbook around with me ALL the time because I only used it SOMETIMES.) On with the story, Levi had picked/eaten about as many berries as he could handle and our time was about up (before we had to get back to pick Jackson up from school) so we brought our berries to be weighed. I was a few dollars short, HOW EMBARRASSING! I scrounged up a couple more dollars in change from my car (SO EMBARRASSING) and was STILL a bit short. I said I'd need to leave whatever berries I needed to. (Here I am SO mortified and EMBARRASSED. Sheesh! Where's my checkbook when I need it?!) Luckily the sweet older woman who'd just finished paying overheard my ordeal and asked, "How much do you need?" Then she said "Oh I can get the rest." Talk about a lesson in humility. I thanked her again and again and asked for her address so I could repay her. She emphatically said it wasn't necessary; she just said, "I pray the Lord will bless you", to which I responded, "and I know the Lord will bless you for your generosity. Thank you so very much!" And she drove off in her Volvo and I said a little prayer for the modern-day Good Samaritans. 

And there you have it, picking berries can be more than just picking berries; it can be a lesson in humility and a chance to "pay it forward". Now go and do just that!