You know what’s nice about Texas? Strawberry season starts in March. It’s been Spring Break this week and our big outing was driving over an hour to Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls. (“Forget Disneyworld, kids, we’re going to pick strawberries in the middle of nowhere!”) You’ve got to get there early to get the best berries, and go on the right day (they’re closed on Wednesdays, so Thursday morning is when the most ripe berries are out.) The weather was lovely, the bluebonnets and wildflowers were showing off everywhere, and Mister played hookey from work and went with us.
Sweet Berry Farm has several varieties of berries and Chandler is one of my favorites for making jam. They’re a little on the soft side and very juicy, quite unlike grocery store strawberries. Because of this they turn to mush within a day or two so you’ve got to eat them or use them right now. The taste is out of this world. It’s like a strawberry explosion.
I’ve had my work cut out for me over the last couple of days. I made a strawberry almond pie and 36 jars of jam. Not to mention eating lots and lots of berries.
Massive strawberry overload.
But in a good way.
P.S. If you do go out to Sweet Berry Farm, be sure to stop at Peete’s Mesquite BBQ in Marble Falls. It has the best brisket I have ever tasted. And I’ve eaten BBQ all ever the place, even at Franklin BBQ which was voted the best in America by Bon Apétit magazine this year. Peete’s ribs were second only to Franklin’s. And their peach pie and macaroni salad are phenomenal! Seriously, go there!!!
Gorgeous! 🙂 Can you share the pie recipe? I got a flat of strawberries from a local farm and don’t have time for bottling batch after batch of jam this week….
That looks like state fair winning jam to me…
What an amazing cook! (and her slaves)
How come I never know about these amazing deserts before your family eats them all up? Unfair!
Is this your way of inviting me to come visit you next Spring? Because it’s working
I am completely jealous. I could really use a good strawberry right now!
Where did you find the fun jars? Yum!!
That strawberrry almond pie looks phenomenal. I really wish I could bake things with almonds and pecans, but Big Daddy can’t eat them. So disappointing to my palate!
I’ve been wondering how the berries were out there. My fear is if I take all my kids with me we will end up paying a million dollars for berries. After seeing all of your jam in those sweet Weck jars I am thinking it might just be worth it!
The berries are great and they’re $2.99 per pound. But it’s not really about just the berries. To us it’s more about the berry-picking experience. I think it’s completely wonderful if you make jam, then every time your kids have some they’ll remember how they picked the berries.