Is it summer yet?
It has been an incredibly wet June in this corner of the globe. We’ve had rain on 18 of the past 25 days, and I’m starting to worry about the welfare of my poor tomatoes, eggplants and peppers. It’s been downright cold in the evenings, getting down to around 10 degrees celcius (50 fahrenheit). They even had snow in the Okanagan last night, which is home to the one desert climate in Canada, and typically the province’s hotspot at this time of year.
Since we haven’t been spending our days gardening or relaxing on the beach (we did go last week, but after sitting there shivering while the sky misted us for two hours, we finally gave up), I’ve had quite a bit of free time on my hands. Luckily, it’s strawberry season. We’ve got dozens of plants scattered throughout the garden here, but they tend to get gobbled up whenever one of us spots a ripe one. In order to have enough to see us through the winter, I usually end up getting them from a local berry farm. A friend saved me the trip and grabbed me a flat (13 pounds) while she was out there the other day.
I froze most of them, sliced in half and frozen loosely on cookie sheets to be scooped into bags. Some of them will be used in the occasional dessert, but they’re mostly to satisfy my son’s smoothie addiction, which is why I have to make sure they’re not frozen together in a lump. Thirteen pounds isn’t really enough, so we’ll likely be heading back out there sometime this week.
I also made a couple of batches of strawberry jam, which is something I didn’t do last year and really regretted. I think we should be set for the next year or so.
Baking is one of my favorite things to when the weather is cool, and a pan of muffins cooling on the window sill makes my heart go pitter pat. Throw in a mug of tea and a good book, and I’m all set. As long as I get enough sunlight for my plants to produce, I think I can handle these cooler temperatures.
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6 thoughts on “Is it summer yet?”
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Everything looks so good. Need to go eat breakfast now.
I truly love your part of the country–gorgeous! And strawberries are loved here as well. I just bought a batch at our local farmer’s market, planning to make a strawberry rhubarb cobbler, since my rhubarb is still producing…but your muffins look SCRUMPTIOUS. I would love to see you post a recipe for them ๐
yes the weather has been quite cool here as well.
I too just put up some strawberry jam. I plan on doing some strawberry rhubarb today. YUM!
that is a good friend to pick a flat of berries for you, how lucky. we also pick and freeze for the smoothies. emily ‘eats’ a lot more fruit if it’s whizzed through a blender!
Wish my kids got into smoothies, sigh. The muffins looked good, wanna share the recipe?
Hi there…I’ve been lurking here for a while. I’m curious…do you buy organic strawberries? If so, where do you get them from? I’m in BC too and will be coming down to Vancouver in four days to visit family and I hope to bring back some strawberries to freeze and preserve. If you could let me know, I would appreciate it!!! nelsonpg@telus.net