Canning Season Begins! My first batch of strawberries

It's that time of year again...

Strawberries.

We do grow strawberries. We don't have a lot of plants, and what we don't "share" with the birds are normally picked and eaten before they even make it inside, so I don't ever have enough to can.
We are blessed to have a great berry farm close enough to us though, and this morning I bought three flats of delicious strawberries. I think I forget how wonderful local, fresh strawberries are. So stinkin' good.

 So here is the "before" picture. I used one flat to make jam, one flat to freeze and then one flat we'll eat fresh over the next day or so. That's right, it will just take us a day or so to devour them.

 

 

The frozen ones we use for homemade popsicles this summer, as well as smoothies. I'll also use them to make a strawberry cake that we like to eat as well as share at potlucks and family events throughout this year.

The little containers I got at Walmart several years ago and they work very well for freezing items. Some of the best ones I've found and they are cheap!So totals this year for my canning:
5 pints frozen strawberries
3 quarts frozen strawberries
8 pints of strawberry jam
2 half pints of strawberry jam

Here's to a good season for us all!

Happy Homesteading Ya'll!