Jam Session at the Botts Estate

 

 Several weeks back, perhaps more like three weeks ago, Jan, Liz and Autumn went to one of the local farms to pick strawberries.  Actually, it wasn't all that local, the farm was located probably twenty or more miles away, outside of Palmer. It was one of those U-pick places, where you go in and pay to pick your own produce, I suppose with the understanding that either the food you harvest yourself will be healthier and hopefully it will cost less.

In the case of the strawberries, I believe they paid the handsome price of about ten dollars a quart. Not exactly a bargain. Add to the cost the gas it took to get there and back, and the bending down to root through the berries that others have already picked over, traipsing through the mud and dealing with mosquitos and other hungry vermin, those are some pretty expensive strawberries. I guess its the adventure of the whole process that is supposed to be memorable. I can't really relate.

As far as being healthy goes, that's out the window too. They were making jam, and I can't recall the exact amount of processed sugar that went into the batch, but fourteen cups seems to come to mind. I guess if you were like the Smucker's company, that much sugar would be a pittance, but for a little home made operation, that sure sounds like a lot. With the expense and effort that comes in to play, I suspect that every time you plaster your toast with some of that deluxe jam, you're bound to really, really enjoy it.

Oh, I forgot about the Certo, the pectin that is required to make the jam thicken I guess. What's that, an extra seven or so dollars? Holy Toledo! If a person elected to sell a jar of it, no doubt the going price would be somewhere in the vicinity of twenty dollars a half pint. Now I'm going to be afraid to eat any of it. If, God forbid, I should spill any on the counter or floor, all I'll be able to think about is how I just wasted fifty cents.

As you can see by several of the pictures above, one person is working, while two others are busy playing cards. It reminds me of those road projects where there are about six guys standing around leaning on shovels and one poor sucker sweating up a storm doing all the work. The thing is, the guy who's working his butt off is probably at the low end of the pay scale. Go figure.

For breakfast I usually eat Jif peanut butter on my slice of  toast, but after writing this post, I may have to start indulging in some of that premium jam. I may even start eating two pieces of toast. To quote a line from the movie Matilda, its much too good for children.