Jamm'in

Last June we picked wild berries while we were camping. At the time I put them in quart freezer bags and froze them in the fridge of our 5th wheel. They were to be made into jam, when "the weather cooled off".

So the freezer has been full of the berries, and not leaving adequate space for groceries. Yesterday, Tyia and I had the day off from our jobs and decided it was as good a time as any to get the jam done. I had the bottles, but needed a little pectin and sugar. So we took the berries out of the freezer and put them in the sink to thaw while we ran errands and to get the needed supplies.

Our little errands ended up taking hours, instead of minutes.... you know how that is.... We had a drop off for Deseret Industries, .... so while we were at the DI we went inside to look for books that Book Club will be reading in the next few months. As we perused up and down a few isles we recognized a few things that we had donated a week ago. Some of the birch candle holders Varcel had made. A green dish, a black coffee mug and plate, some kitchen dishes and a few more odds and ends. We got a kick out of seeing our old yard sale stickers still on some of the things with the DI sticker on top of it.

Then we went to the books. I found "Emma Brown", the one I had rented from the Library for Book Club, and while in my possession it was damaged, so knew it was once mine.

Anyway, I am getting off track of my story. We stopped at a few other places, Sprouts, Bookmans, the 99 cent store and Frys grocery store and then went home.

We found the berries thawed and started to make our jam. It was much later in the day than we thought it would be to start that mess. But the berries thawed, and we were ready to get at it.

We only got 1/2 of it done. We ran out of Pectin, and low on sugar. Tyia went to 4 more stores looking for pectin, and finally came home empty handed. After 7:00 pm Varce went to Bell road and 67th Ave and found pectin there... and since he was there, and since they were having a "case load" sale on some food storeage canned goods, he stocked up. That took another hours of us waiting to do the jam... so .....I made a pie with some of the berries and added a couple of apples to it, as Varce loves apple pie!

By the time Varce got back it was nearly 9:00 and we hadn't eaten dinner yet...which was a really good one, stuffed bell peppers and butternut squash...

So, by 12:00 midnight, Tyia and I were cleaning up the jam mess. But we weren't done yet, so we left much of the supplies on the counter so we could finish them in the morning. Our count of bottles of jam at that time was 20 bottles. Some are pints, and others are 1/2 pints.

But with what we spent in time, gas, and supplies (and the "case load" of groceries) the free berries ended up costing much more than we thought it would.... but after it is all said and done, picking berries, buying lids, bottles, pectin, sugar, (and shopping at other stores in the process) this jam is PRICELESS!!!!