From the Strawberry Patch

Elyssa has been harvesting her strawberries. 

This is the 3rd year she has tended the strawberry patch. Grandpa gave her 16 small plants, and now they are huge and spreading out. She picks her berries morning and evening and washes them, takes the tops off and puts them in a freezer bag, and then freezes them until she has enough to make strawberry freezer jam. This will be the first year she will have enough. 

 A few days ago she picked 56 berries in one day. 

 And they smelled SO... SO... SO... Yummy! 

They were sweet and juicy, and perfectly ripe. 

Last night we did make freezer jam. 

With very little supervision from me, she did an awesome job.

 Sadly I don't have a photo.  I will try to get one very soon. 

Last year she made her very first batch by herself,

 it was Apricot Freezer Jam. 

I love that you can make freezer jam with 3 ingredients,

 and very little sugar compared with traditional jam making.

More fruit, less sugar is a good thing! 

Americus Eggs and the New Ladies

Fresh eggs 

Americus giving the stink eye!

These are our new ladies, Oreo and Chippewah. We think Oreo is a Barnevelder, and Chippewah is a golden laced  Wyandotte. I am not sure if this is the case. If any of you Chicken expert out there know what they are please feel free to let me know what I really have. 

Oreo and Chippewah are 18 weeks old.

I love the colors of Chippewah's hackles. 

Eggs

We have a wonderful chicken, Americus, that lays Wonderful Eggs.

 She is like clock work. If she lays an egg at 7 am on Monday, I know I can expect an egg at 9am on Tuesday. 

 She has to take a day off once a week to rest, 

I could sure learn a lesson from her.

 Then it is back to the old routine of laying and egg. 

The day she takes off, 

makes for a bigger egg the next time she lays.