Strawberry Fields

 Our travels took us to the penninsula today. First a new adventure playground in Rye, followed by lunch at the Olive Grove but the pinnacle was a visit to Sunny Ridge berry farm.

I had never been berry picking before and the sales assistant wasn't very enthusiastic given we were at the end of season, she suggested berries would be hard to find. People walking back with empty punnents didn't help our expectations however we still went and it was great. 

 The kids wandered happily through the rows of strawberry plants. They had to look hard for good gruit, but they found it and filled their punnets, and bellies.

A birthday was celebrated and we made the trip home. While we were tired, our strawberries did not fare so well. They were getting squished purely from their own weight. Rather than put them in the fridge until they were off enough to throw away... 

 We made JAM! Yes, then and there. Strawberries were cleaned and crushed.

Equal parts of fruit and sugar, lemon juice (from our tree) and I put in some vanilla bean. Basically we melted the sugar and then boiled it til it set on a plate and bottled it. 

Delish.