Strawberry Picking

Wednesday:  back to back dentist appointments in the morning so we did school in the car and waiting room, stocked up on fresh sourdough bread from the local bakery, a surprise for the children with a visit to the u-pick strawberry fields, home for lunch, back to town for tutoring and finishing school in the car (clocked 5 hours in the car and waiting room), home for clean up and dinner, and Phil home at 10:00 (16 hour day for him).

Strawberry picking is always nostalgic for me.  I did a lot of u-picking when the children were little.  I remember picking with little ones in strollers, on my back in the ergo carrier, crawling babies, being pregnant, and coming home with loads of strawberries and other fruit that I froze, made into jam, canned, or dried.  U-picking always reminds me of those days of little ones and urban farming growing our veggies in our garden and canning.  I haven't had a real vegetable garden since 2014 (traveling 2015, 2016, and moving 2017).  Back then life was so busy caring for the needs of little ones BUT we were home most of the time and I wasn't putting all my time and energy into homeschooling and chauffeuring children and Phil was able to help out so much.  I was in the garden and "homesteading" daily.  Somedays I want to trade in today's responsibilities for the ones I had back then.  I had it in my mind that having older children would be so much easier.  It is in someways and so much harder in others.  The older they get, the more complicated things become.

Now, each child has their own bucket and can spread themselves across the field filling their bucket independently and I can pick quickly without a toddler crawling on me, a baby fussing in a stroller, without diaper changes, or stopping to nurse....those days seem so far away.  And those hours of canning will be replaced by lots of fresh eating before they go bad and if I can find the food dryer, I might dry some for granola.  I don't have time to make jam.









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