Yesterday morning 3 other women gathered at my house. They started trickling in about 15 minutes past the time we were set to start. That's the kind of crowd I hang with, relaxed and real. It's beautiful.
While waiting for the other ladies, my children subjected my friend Angela to a tour of the house (and all of their toys). Graciously, Angela obliged and engaged the boys in excited small talk and watched more Matchbox car races that even I could stand. Again, my friends, relaxed and real...and beautiful.
Welp, the jam session (har, har, har) was great. We made 3 varieties strawberry, blueberry, and peach. They are each delicious in their own right. Fabulously delicious. Anyway...the visual details.
This is the lovely North Carolina roadside produce stand that I bought the fruit from. Such a skuzzy looking place with such beautifully ripe fruit. A diamond in the rough if you will. :) The woman working was also a gem. She gave me a screaming deal on the strawberries, because "they're within an inch of being too ripe". Perfect for jam, thank you.
Washing the berries and getting them ready to macerate with vanilla bean in the fridge overnight. This was the only prep work I did for the jam party. The rest I enlisted the ladies to help with.
Pretty Preggo friend helped blanch and peel the peaches, which was a huge, messy help. Glad she was dealing with all of that southern peach juiciness and not me! :) It made quite a mess on my kitchen floor.
Sweet Angela chopped ginger. She claimed to not have much experience in the kitchen, and told me her husband would be very impressed with her new found skills. She hadn't used a chef's knife before, and probably thought I was a killer for having such a large knife in my possession. She did beautifully, and her husband was impressed with her new jam making skills.
My very most southern friend held down the kid front while the rest of us worked in the kitchen. This was much appreciated since we had 4 kids under 4 within the confines of my home. I swear to you, she loves my boys almost more than I do. I'm so thankful for that, I've always dreamed of a network of adults to love on my boys...and God has blessed us with that abundantly.
I am clearly a slave driver...making such a sweet pregnant lady work so hard. But, the baby will love the jam, I assure you of that.
How is it possible that I have such sweet friends that they'll wash dishes as we go? Most of the time I just pile them up and deal with them at the end. But, when you work together, more gets done in much less time. Plus, you can each work on the part you are good at. Me, I was the bossy one. What does that say about me? :)
A sweet jammy mess. This was blueberry, and it is soooooo sweet I can hardly stand it. But, my oldest loves it mixed in with whole milk yogurt in the mornings. He loves that it makes his yogurt purple. "It's so magical, mama!"
A sampling of each type of jam we made. Ginger Peach, Fragrant Blueberry, and Strawberry Vanilla. They each have such complex tastes and were very simple to make. I encourage you to try to make at least one of them while fruit is so abundant and inexpensive!
More on my reflections tomorrow! This was one of my most favorite missions yet. I can't wait to share my thoughts on it.
