For the love of Jam

Yes, it's that time of year again. The annual making of The Jam took place this weekend. Fortunately we have a well seasoned team that makes it all the more enjoyable.  Just open the windows to release the steam, crank up the tunes, and get to work!The 3 of us all did our jobs with great efficiency and mostly joy. Notice I said mostly, near the end I admit to getting just a wee bit cranky due to overheating and low blood sugar.

We ended up with 37 jars of jam in total. Nice work team! This morning I baked a batch of biscuits. I then cracked open a fresh jar of strawberry jam and slathered a biscuit with it. I devoured it in less than a minute. So good!

The yearly making of the jam together began way back when The Engineer and I first moved into The Little Green cottage. Now the whole family is part of the tradition. Here's to 11 years of sweetness and kickin' out the jams!

The last jar of jam

What a beautiful morning it is here in my little patch of the Pacific Northwest! Had my morning coffee and toast out in the garden and watched the crazy starlings splash in the fountain. The only cloud over this sunny scene is that we are on the very final jar of strawberry jam from last year. Oh, still so delicious. It wont be long though, well not too  terribly long, until this year's strawberries come on and we make the 2015 batch. Still, any length of time without homemade jam seems hard to bear. 

We shall have to find some way to carry on.

Suddenly Summer

Oh yes, it's suddenly Summer here in the Pacific Northwest! With the beautiful weather comes the last week of school, friends gathering for barbecues, Popcicle consumption, Farmer's markets, and busy times.
Excuse me if I am a little scarce this week as I will be doing a bit of THIS...

...looking for one of these,

and getting out in the garden to tame the wild,

and apparently taking photos with my phone.

I do want to remind you that I am Guest Editor for the month of June over on WhipUp. There is a great Ebook offering from my friend Nancy Langdon, designer behind studioTANTRUM/Fledge and proceeds go to a really good cause, you can find it HERE. My latest offering is an ode to eating local and our glorious farmer's market HERE. You can also find a couple of great book reviews in the mix, so please head on over to take a look!

Have a beautiful day all!

For the love of toast!

It's that time again! The brief window of local strawberry goodness has arrived and of course, we made jam.

We have become a seasoned, well oiled machine when it comes to our annual jam making. At 10 am on Sunday I brought home the berries, by noon we had 33 jars of ruby red deliciousness to take us through to next year.

This morning I sat at the window with my coffee, a thick slice of bread slathered with strawberry jam, and thought how the best things in life are made by hand. Oh how I love toast!

As if that were not enough goodness for one weekend, I also received a special parcel in the post from across the big pond. Pomona of Little Cottage Comforts, had a giveaway recently and I was the lucky winner.

Honestly, with all that's been going on 'round here I had completely forgotten about it until it arrived. What a gorgeous surprise! A lovely book on button jewelry and the very generous Pomona included the prettiest pieces of fabric and some sweet buttons too!

There really is nothing like getting happy packages in the mail to cheer one's day. Thank you Pomona! Oh, I just popped over to her blog and she is having another fabulous giveaway, go see!

What a good way to start a new week.
Happy Monday!