Every year we go strawberry picking. Usually we eat a third fresh or in baked goods, freeze a third, and make the rest into jam. This year, our little garden patch has produced well enough to satisfy our out of hand desires and I even froze about a pint.

We tried to pick twice in central Ohio but the weather was awful once and the patch was picked over the other time. Then we left on vacation to Massachusetts.

My sisters picked up our fruit CSA from Wayward Seed farms. We got 6 quarts of beautiful strawberries(!)....but I was out of town and couldn't process them into jam. My youngest sister Heather did freeze half for me and also brought the rest with her to Massachusetts for a huge batch of strawberry shortcake. Thanks Heather!! But, no jam yet...

I got a crazy idea that we could spend an afternoon picking here in Massachusetts and make jam here. The house has a nice lovely kitchen and I need to buy more pint jars anyways.

So, I called around nearby, but the farms are almost out of season and price per pound is outrageous, even when picking ourselves. Foiled again.

I am crossing my fingers that I can pick my own when I get back on June 21. I could just buy strawberries, but homemade jam becomes an expensive proposition when we do that. I could use the frozen berries to make jam, but then we wouldn't have any frozen for smoothies and yogurt in the winter. The last alternative is to just forget about strawberry jam and make peach or blueberry preserves this year.

Any other ideas?