Saturday, July 30, 2011

Luscious Raspberries and An Organizational Day

Turned out to be a really good catch-up day for me. Didn't do a thing with my remodeling hat on and that was fine. (Ooops, I lied a little there. When Chicken Mama stopped by tonight we did some searching online for small bar sinks. I want to put one in the end of the kitchen island [the end farthest away from my main work area] for Papa Pea to use for his coffee fixings. I don't know if it's just the two of us in particular or if other couples in the kitchen have the same problem. We inevitably want to be at the sink at the same time.)

This is the largest picking of raspberries so far. And I only picked down one side of one of the three rows at that. We had a brief thunderstorm which left the bushes quite wet before I got my rusty-duster out to pick. The blueberries seem to be getting ripe early this year so I had a few of them to put in my harvest bucket also.

The strawberries are done. All done. Got right around one hundred pounds total from them this year which is only a little over half as many as last year. I'm pretty sure the hot weather did 'em in as it hit just as the berries were starting to mature. Still and all, I got plenty for our needs, but I feel bad that our daughter would have liked another large batch to make into jam. They were producing one day and the next, it seems they just stopped.

It's nigh onto 8 o'clock and I'm thinking of getting ready for bed so I can be rarin' to go in the morning when I will get back on the move-ahead construction bandwagon.
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11 comments:

  1. SparklessSunday, July 31, 2011 12:10:00 AM

    Oh yum I love raspberries. Glad you got an organizational day in before you are back at the hard work of renovations.

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  2. 2 TrampsSunday, July 31, 2011 1:40:00 AM

    Tramp 1's strawberries keep getting eaten - not pecked by birds but snipped right off the vine - and he has good rabbit fencing so we are thinking maybe a pack rat. My Mom picked our raspberries for us today and we got two quarts - small by your standards but big by ours and there will still be more to come.

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  3. SueSunday, July 31, 2011 3:04:00 AM

    Am I the only person in the world that DOESN'T have raspberries this year????? I have only gotten 3. Three lousy raspberries!. And Don knows nothing of these three. Cuz, c'mon--I had to dig those 43,000,000 stray plants out of the aisles. I needed SOME recompense!

    Your berries look luscious. Trade for some green beans?
    :)

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  4. judySunday, July 31, 2011 6:03:00 AM

    You have to be kidding about the sink problem ,its only the 2 of you ,I deal with any where from 7 to 11 people depending if Becca is spending the weekend-and I don't have anyone crowding me at the sink except to get a drink---lets see ,whats that called-LAZY---I reached into the computer and garbed a handful of luscious berries-sorry I couldn't resist. You'll never notice them missing---ha,ha,ha

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  5. The Apple Pie GalSunday, July 31, 2011 6:46:00 AM

    Mmmmm, those look amazing! Do you stand out there with a stick to keep the birds off?!

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  6. Amy DingmannSunday, July 31, 2011 7:22:00 AM

    The berries look lovely! We didn't get any raspberries this year. :( Glad you got your day of organization in. Without that, we womenfolk would go batty!

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  7. Mama PeaSunday, July 31, 2011 8:21:00 AM

    Sparkless - I'm with you all the way on the raspberries! And, yep, I really, really need those "get back on track" days now and then.

    2 Tramps - Or chipmunks getting the strawberries? Hey, two quarts of raspberries is nothing to sneeze at! I'll bet they were wonderful.

    Sue - Um, maybe you should have let those renegade raspberry canes grow in no-man's land?

    Now, see, THAT'S why we all need to live close together. I have no green beans this year. You have no raspberries. Doesn't take a genius to figure out how that could work! (I'm also baking a raspberry pie today . . . want half of it?)

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  8. Mama PeaSunday, July 31, 2011 8:25:00 AM

    judy - I know, it seems the two of us could manage to live in the kitchen together but we can't . . . and it's all his fault. He's this tall presence, all arms and legs and he moves so slow because he's always thinking too much. Sigh.

    I'd gladly share some raspberries with you if I could. Yes, I would.

    APG - You all are starting to make me paranoid but we've never had a problem with the birds bothering our berries. (Okay, now I just did it . . . I can hear them congregating as we speak.)

    Mama Tea - Oh, Sweetie, there are SO many things that drive us women batty!! ;o}

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  9. ErinSunday, July 31, 2011 10:08:00 AM

    Haha in my dream house hubby has a deep sink in the mudroom and his coffeepot out there... completely OUT of my kitchen :)

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  10. odiieSunday, July 31, 2011 2:09:00 PM

    100 lbs. of strawberries??How wonderful. I can't seem to get them to grow, but I did get my raspberries to produce this year. I'm picking a pint or two a day and canning as I go. The wild ones are doing great, too, and the blueberries are at their peak here right now. If I could only find as much time as I can raspberries.

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  11. Mama PeaSunday, July 31, 2011 6:14:00 PM

    Erin - Papa Pea and I have joked (I think it was joking) about his "cooking" area being in the garage on the wood stove!

    odiie - Isn't that always the case when harvest/preserving time rolls around. NEVER ENOUGH TIME! :O}

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