Blackberries!

For playgroup last week we went to Fieldstone Enterprises to pick some blackberries. (You'll see that Gaia and Livia also blogged about our adventures - links on right of blog). It is the only real thing we'll get to pick this year. Almost all of the area fruit and nut farms were hit hard by the late frosts we had in April. That means no apples, pecans, etc. :o(
We searched for the best, blackest, blackberries. Ava wanted to pick the bright pink ones at first. It was super hot and we lasted as long as we could. Elise was a trooper but Ava got tired pretty quick and most of the kids were starting to whine, so we called it a day.
The highlight for Ava had to have been petting the farm dogs or puppies as she commonly refers to them.
William & Jasmine seemed to be enjoying themselves...no, this is not an advertisement for Visa and Mastercard.
The busy, hot mommies.
I decided to try to make some jam. I have always thought of jam-making as a tedious, laborious, timely project...then I met freezer jam! I've often salivated at the thought of my friend, Camie's strawberry freezer jam. Well, now her secret is out! Freezer jam was so easy! I don't know why I thought it was so hard and never tried it before.
The finished product. I left chunks of fruit in it on purpose and even threw some small, whole blackberries in at Camie's suggestion. Yummmy! I think I'll try strawberry next. This time I'll get the berries from the store - although I did enjoy picking them.