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Thursday, May 26, 2022

For Such A Time As This, part 3: Pushing Through!

Earlier in the week we were invited to come and get some over ripe strawberries from a local farmstand for free.  The farmstand grows and sells their own strawberries so when the invitation came, we set a date and prepared to spend an hour or so picking over ripe strawberries.

When we got there this morning, much to our surprise, the strawberries were picked and ready for us to load.  Another surprise was that while these strawberries were lightly over ripe, they were still beautiful and in very good condition.  We were delighted and thanked the owners of the farmstand over and over!

We came away with approximately 20 gallons of 'over ripe' strawberries with instructions to share with anyone we thought might want some.  We wound up sharing with 6 families in our community which left us with about 8 gallons.

Eight gallons of strawberries is a lot of strawberries and here's what I did with them ...

made strawberry jam (by the time I actually got around to working on the berries it was midafternoon and I was getting tired.)

made freezer strawberry jam (by this time tiredness was settling in and I looked around at all the berries still left and knew that I had to keep going.)

made one-quart cartons of sweetened strawberries for the freezer (by the time I finished these I was pushing myself hard but thankful to have all the berries done ... then, I looked around at the kitchen!)

(The freezer cartons I used for the freezer jam and sweetened strawberries are Here and Here.)

The kitchen was a mess, strawberries and sugar make a sticky mess no matter how hard you try to keep it cleaned as you go.  And then there was all the pots and pans and bowls and measuring cups and utensils that I used in the preserving process.  It was enough to make me want to just put it off until morning, but I knew I couldn't do that, so I pushed even harder and got the kitchen cleaned thoroughly!

I was tired, exhausted and just wanted to be done, but I needed to keep pushing until I finished ... for such a time as this!

Sometimes that's what we have to do, even when we want to quit ... for such a time as this every little thing or big thing we can do helps.  

Until the next post,

patsi

Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

My pantry is intentional, purposeful, simple, practical, frugal and what works for my family.  It’s the food items and household supplies that keep my household running smoothly ready and available when they are needed.  It’s my contribution to our family’s economy and my work-from-home ‘job.'

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22 comments:

  1. My push today was to mix soil and fill my garden pots, and plant. In between rain showers. And taking time to be refreshed by visiting with some friends this morning and early afternoon. Thankfully the rain held off until nearly dark and I got quite a few tomatoes planted, cauliflower and some flowers. Plus onions, shallots and more.

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    1. Anonymous, it's nice to take out time for visiting isn't it!

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  2. CONGRATULATIONS on every step of this process (including sharing the blessing!). Well done on persevering from start to finish….VERY inspiring! conni

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    1. Anne, we were delighted and felt really blessed!

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  4. What a boon to your pantry and the other six lucky families. I am a very careful cook, but I can make a mess with sugary fruit, freezing or canning. You will think about this hard work when you are enjoying strawberries from the freezer. How many quarts did you freeze or jam did you make?

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    1. Practical Parsimony, I did 7 half pints of strawberry jam and 8 pints of freezer jam.

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  5. What a blessing for all of you. I know that tired feeling well and sometimes it just makes one want to sit down and cry!

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  6. Wow, what a blessing to get all of those strawberries for free!!! I love strawberries and was telling Colton about your strawberry barrels because I'd love to try growing some. I understand what you mean about pushing through and well done for making it through a long day and getting all of that put up and cleaned up. (And thanks for linking to the containers you used because I was going to ask :) I pushed through in the garden the other day. It is really too hot to grow much now as it is the end of the growing season here. But with health setbacks at the height of the growing season, I didn't get anything planted (Colton managed a few tomatoes and peppers), so now that I am feeling better and seeing the prices and shortages, I knew I needed to get something in the ground. In a race against a rain forecast and James's naptime, I managed 4 rows of okra, 6 squash plants, a row of radishes, 2 rows of sunflowers, and a row of zinnias, all raised and mulched by the end of the day. We had our much needed rain and now my seedlings are popping up!

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    1. Kelsey, that is quite the accomplishment with little ones under your care! Everything we can do helps though, you did great!

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  7. It's wonderful how the blessing of free strawberries could be shared with other people you know. Today I wanted to finish planting the garden but we have had intermittent strong thunder storms all day, so it will happen tomorrow. I will be planting butternut squash, 30 sweet potato slips, more zucchini, more green beans. Since I couldn't,'t plant today I worked on more meals for the freezer. We are still being blessed with free eggs from a friend's hens. A new to me recipe for spaghetti squash casserole was made with the eggs. We had some for dinner and the rest were frozen . Cookie

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    1. Cookie, we've had a stormy day today too so no outside work was done here either. I still have planting to do as well, maybe tomorrow!

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  8. You had a satisfying afternoon! Those strawberries are beautiful and you put them to such good use.

    With love from,
    Kelly (Mrs. Kiwi)

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    1. Mrs. Kiwi, it was a long evening but so worth it!

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  9. How lovely! I love strawberries. You certainly made good use of them all. I know just what you mean about pushing onward. I have to do that at times and it's both satisfying and exhausting!

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    1. Terri, satisfying and exhausting is a good way to describe how I felt when I finished!

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  10. What a gift for your and for those you blessed! Strawberries will be coming on here in the next few weeks, and I'll be gearing up for those, too (though I don't think it will be nearly that many). And, you were right to not jam splashes and drips sit overnight. I've got some baked on my black stovetop that I've had little luck getting off. May you continue to be blessed.

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    1. Lori, thank you! That's one of the reasons I pushed through, dealing with baked on stains can be difficult!

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