Strawberry Pick'n!

I am leaving on a mission trip for Trinidad tomorrow and will hopefully do some blogging from there, but before I left I had to do one last blog about my week. This is an important one.

When I was growing up in Pa, one of the favorite things my mom would do would drive out into the country and go berry picking. In Pa this was usually blackberries, raspberries or blueberries. After the picking came the jellies, cobblers, pies and all sorts of other wonderful food items. Well, when she moved to Florida the best she could find, as Florida is not known for its great woods full of berries, was strawberries farms. So we began our annual strawberry picking event. This went on every year in March or April until my mom was no longer able to go because of her health. The routine was the same -we picked, came home washed and prepared the berries and made all kinds of good stuff, but mostly canned jams. As the years went by, my daughter Debbie became part of our annual event as well as other family members.

When my mom stopped going so did I, which I can't even remember when that last time was. Well, this year my sister in law Diane, her daughter Sharai (who were part of our original crew) my daughter Debbie and the most exciting part for me was the addition of my granddaughter Kaitlyn, started up the tradition again.On Saturday armed with coolers, straw hats and sunscreen we went back to the berry patch. What fun it was. So many memories, I could almost see my mom bending over the berry's with her dress (she didn't wear pants) blowing in the wind and her straw hat covering her head. How we don't appreciate things until we no longer have them.
Anyway, Kaitlyn was beside herself with joy. She loves her mommy's garden and this was one really big garden for her to pick. She got to work with her little quart container and worked beside us for 1 and 1/2 hours non-stop. Her great-grandma would have been proud! Her grandma (Nana) was very proud!