Strawberry Girl (and Boy)*

One berry
Two berry
Pick me a [strawberry]
Hatberry
Shoeberry
In my canoeberry
Under the bridge
And over the dam
Looking for berries
Berries for jam. (Bruce Degen, Jamberry)

We picked strawberries today in the hot summer sun. The kiddos were so excited to have their own little boxes to carry and excitedly ran to the tractor stop. Picking fruit and riding on a tractor pull, what fun! And Mama, oh my! She joined us briefly, mainly because she has to work late tonight and wanted to come.

You could smell the strawberries as we approached the distant field filled with moms and children. They say our modern strawberries are bastard imitations of the very fragrant heirloom varieties--I would love to smell a field of old strawberries if these were the less impressive kind!

And so there we were, running up and down our assigned row looking for strawberries like Easter eggs. I was kneeling in the straw cover looking for the red juicy ones, but Mama and the kids had more luck--and that was the half I saw since I know Bud and Sis ate at least half! We did two rows and finished with about 7 lbs of berries uneaten. They ate more in the car, so I am not sure exactly how many I just washed and put in the fridge for safe-keeping.

We had talked about strawberry pie and strawberry shortcake, and I had thoughts of strawberry freezer jam and strawberry sorbert, on the way home, but they decided they just want them "plain."

But, I think I can freeze or use half and they won't even notice.

**Anybody else read Lois Lenski's book? I don't remember it much except that I loved the illustrations in my copy and liked the story.

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Goo’s Redwall Strawberry Cordial
2 lbs. strawberries
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup powdered sugar
¾ liter of plain seltzer
2 tablespoons water
1 pint heavy cream

Wash and slice strawberries. Heat strawberries on low flame in saucepan with ½ cup sugar and 2 tablespoons of water. When soft and rendering liquid, add the other ½ cup of sugar. Strain strawberries over bowl, saving juice. Crush strawberries until only seeds and fibers left. Add to juice. Cool juice. Add seltzer to strawberry juice to taste. Add cream to cordial to taste and texture. Sweeten with powdered sugar. Refrigerate at least an hour or until chilled. Serve with fresh whipped cream.


Strawberry Sorbet

2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 quart strawberries, hulled
1 ½ teaspoon lemon juice

In heavy saucepan boil water and sugar for 5 minutes; do not stir. Add strawberries; cook 5 minutes more. Stir in lemon juice. Cool. Puree. Refrigerate until chilled. Pour into ice cream maker and freeze for approximately 25 minutes.