Kara & Michael’s Blog

Today, Michael and I went to pick strawberries. Southern Maryland is picking now - most places in western Maryland will be opening for picking next weekend or the weekend after. Shlagel Farms is open now, and is very accessible in Waldorf, MD. You’ll drive by their calves and cows, heading down towards the greenhouse and many many rows of lush strawberries.

Now, having worked extensively at a pick your own farm, I have a few cautions to anyone about picking.

1. Call ahead. Ask about picking conditions. You don’t want to drive all the way out to a farm and then find out they’re not picking. And no matter how much of a fit you pitch, they still won’t let you pick.
2. Bring cash. Some places may take checks or possibly credit cards, but it will always be easier to deal with cash.
3. Bring containers and have them weighed before you pick (otherwise, the cashier won’t be able to subtract the weight from the weight of your berries). For strawberries, a shallow box works best. For blueberries, buckets work great. Most places will provide strawberry flats for free, but they may not. Again, if you call, this is a question you can ask.
4. Remember, berry picking is work. You will be doing some bending and kneeling. Dress to get messy. If you have kids, remember they may get bored quickly. Also bring some wet-naps or something to clean up - the farm may not have a sink to rinse off in, and kids can get messy eating berries.
5. Kids (and grownups) are expected to eat a berry or two or five here and there. No big deal, but don’t go overboard.
6. Berries will be better off the shorter they stay in the car, make picking your last errand for the day. Also, if you can cover them from sunlight with a paper bag or another box, they will be happier on the car-ride home.

They were very helpful at Shlagel and had strawberry flats available. Michael and I brought two shallow boxes, but we used them to cover the berries for the trip home. The strawberries were plentiful, easy to pick, and huge for early berries! Most importantly, they were $2.00/ pound! That’s a sale price at the grocery store, and let me assure you, these berries are tastier than any berry you’ll find at a grocery store.

Michael and I knew we wanted to make a batch of strawberry jam. Michael’s flat was a bit over 7 pounds, and he had enough strawberries for two batches. So we made two batches. We still have enough left for another batch, but we may freeze them.

I hulled the strawberries by cutting into the white flesh around the stem and leaves, using a bowl for the leaf waste, and placing the strawberries into a colander, which was then used for rinsing them. Then we measured them (8 cups worth), put them in a pot for cooking and mashed them up as well as we could with a big fork, then adding Fruit Fresh (vitamin C) to keep the color of the berries.

Then we heated up the strawberries while stirring them until they were a bit warm, at which point we added the 7 cups of sugar required by the recipe, and stirred that until it came to a rolling boil. Then we added a packet of liquid pectin and boiled it for one minute before skinning the foam off the top of the jam and then ladling the jam into the jars.

We had washed the jars and rings with soap in hot water, and had the lids in a bowl off the stove that we filled with boiling water from an electric tea kettle. We wiped the rim of the jars after they were filled, put a lid on it and then tightened the rings around them.

The jars were then placed into a pot of water that was already boiling, and they sat there for ten minutes, before we pulled them out with tongs. So far all of our jars (17) have sealed. It’s 3:30 pm, we’ve picked strawberries, made loads of jam and I feel pretty productive.

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