Troyer's Strawberry Farm

Saturday we went to Troyer's Strawberry Farm in Waterford to pick strawberries. Last year we went to get some and got lost on the way because I was feeling a little to confident about knowing my way around and when we finally got there the entire field was nothing but dirt. Apparently, (I have been listening to "Junie B. Jones" and I say apparently a lot), you have to get there before the end of June because when the berries get small they plow the whole thing under. So this year I called to see if we would be O.K. to come picking the beginning of next week and they said maybe but they can't promise that they wouldn't plow it up this weekend.

So we hustled up there on Saturday morning with our neighbors for the summer Miss Emily(who will be 5 on July 10th) and her mom Amy and little brother Sam. We picked for about an hour and filled 2 large baskets (about 5 pints) for us and 2 for Emily's family. Emily really wasn't into the manual labor of picking the strawberries but she really wanted her basket to be full so she took her basket to Madeline and said "O.K. I am going to let you pick my strawberries for me. So when you get my basket full you bring it back to me." The rest of the picking Madeline was quite concerned with getting berries picked for her and Emily. Some day Emily will be very successful because of her delegation skills.

After picking berries we drove back to Erie and ate lunch at the Quaker Steak and Lube. 85% of the menu is fried and the onion rings come on a car antenna. They have race cars and motorcycles hanging from the ceiling and a TV in the floor under glass for your watching pleasure while you wait for your seat. The Restrooms are called the "Pit Stop". It's a fun place to eat.

Any way, we had a big day and so everyone went home to have naps but me. I was to excited about the ton of strawberries sitting in the kitchen so I went to the store to get some jam making supplies and I made a batch of jam that my only pot would not hold. I would let it boil a little till it was almost over the edge and the I would take it off the heat and scoop off the top, which was mostly foam, but I thought for sure it wouldn't set because I never boiled it for longer than 20 seconds. Then as I was filling jars, I started thinking that I did not put enough sugar in it so I started pouring all of the jam back in the pot. Then I started thinking again, 14 cups of sugar is a lot of sugar, so I read the directions again and I did NOT screw up. So.... I had to wash all of the jars, lids and rings again and refill them. I thought for sure they would not seal after all of that. All but one sealed! Not bad.

Sunday after church while Jared was at the PGSA opening I made some strawberry bread that turned out pretty good. Now I only have a bowl full of strawberries left I think. Jared was eating them before he went to bed so maybe not.












A nice easygoing weekend. That is what I like about being in PA.