For those of you who don't know, that last picture is son-in-law, Mike Moose at the Kansas City Barbeque Contest with Guy Fieri from Food Network. Not sure how he does it but Mike meets some really neat people!

OOOOPS! Grandma's shortcakes need a fourth cup of sugar!

Grandma's Shortcakes
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 stick butter
Mix dry ingredients until crumbly (can use fingers or food processor)
Gently stir in 3/4 cup milk or light cream, stirring until just blended.
Lightly roll out to 1/2 thick, cut circles and place half on oiled baking sheet.
Spread small amount of soft butter on each circle on baking sheet and top with the rest of th e circles. Bake about 10 minutes at 450 or until golden brown.

My grandmother made these shortcakes - they absolutely melt in your mouth. The two layers of cake with the butter in between make them easy to separate and beautiful to look at. Margarine can be used but the results are not the same. She always sliced the berries and sprinkled on very little sugar, just enough to make juice. Next to her chicken and biscuits, this was a favorite with my brothers and me. More on here chicken and biscuits later.

Jane and the girls were here over the weeked. Those little smiling faces were constantly smeared with strawberry juice. Not sure which of them could eat the most! Between running from the patch to the house and riding bicycles back and forth, they were exhausted at bedtime. Meg ate two huge bowls of strawberry shortcake! Jane made 4 batches of freezer jam - one large container is gone already!

Berries, berries and more berries! Yesterday was day 8 of picking and the strawberries haven't even begun to slow down! We started the day with an inch of rain in about an hour - then came the sun and the heat. Surprisingly, it quickly dried off and the berries were wonderful. It's to be another hot day today and lots of "U-Pic" folks have called to say they will be here. Tom needs to invent a strawberry picker that can go down a row, single out the ripest berries and put them in a basket. That's the only way all the berries will ever get picked.
Raspberries are coming in about 2 weeks. The briars are loaded with green berries. We are guessing that they will be huge since the weather has been perfect for them. They are the only berry on the place that turkeys don't bother!
The blueberries are growing daily. The bushes suffered some from the winter but there will still be lots of them if the turkeys stay away. We are going to try some mylar ribbons to see if that will scare them away - not counting on it!
The rest of the garden simply jumped this past week. I think everything out there doubled or tripled in size. We laugh when we say it but we think we can hear the corn grow and are sure if you stood there and watched, you could see it grow!
Jane and the girls are coming today. It's rodeo weekend and a pancake breakfast for June Dairy Days in the morning. It will be busy but lots of fun. The drive way has several puddles; Alex is now riding her bike without training wheels so........ And it won't be just Alex! Katie is going to have a lemonade stand. Megan will probably be in the barn with the cats or on Grampa's heels. Jane is certainly a busy mom!
Well, it's out to the berry patch. Hope to see you there!

Berries are incredibly good! Had some more rain, solid gold it is, and the patch is just bursting with those lucious berries. Decided today I would freeze them in 4 cup mashed portions for freezer jam and worry about making the jam later. Just not enough hours in the day. The humidity and heat today were not the usual Wisconsin type of weather - hope it is not a taste of more to come!

What a difference a good rain makes! This is day 3 and picking is going well, getting better each day. We were sold out of picked berries each day by noon. That's good but we hate to disappoint folks who call later in the day. Not many "U-Pic" folks yet, probably because yesterday and today were so hot and muggy. We started right at 7 am this morning and the patch was really dew soaked. However, that didn't slow anyone down.
The photos of the Lindquist girls, Jenny, Ellen and Gina (from left to right) were taken about 8 am. (I am still working on writing in blog style so bear with me and the confusing caption on the photos). They arrived bright and early for their first strawberry picking venture. Their parents, Dave and Linda, have purchased an orchard and have planted an orchard on their farm. We are anxious for their apples to ripen! It's certainly another great addition to the Glen Hills area.
Lots of conversation this morning about the amount of sugar in jams and jellies. Ball makes a freezer jam pectin that takes only 1 1/2 cups sugar to 4 cups crushed berries. Our family thinks it is excellent. It has to be since they are great jam eaters and very choosy about it! The regular Surejell recipe calls for 5 cups sugar and another calls for 3 cups. Undoubtedly, the lower sugar has to be better for all of us!
Tom is off to cut hay for friend, Bob, who took a dive off his hay rack and fractured some vertebrae in his back. He's a lucky man to be able to tell the story!
It's chicken on the grill tonight with some strawberry shortcake for dessert. Just might have dessert first!
I am off to finish mowing. That is the only drawback to rain - gotta mow more!

Strawberry picking begins Thursday. The Annapolis berries are ready. These berries are medium sized, sweet and juicy, good for freezing, jam or just enjoying! The Honeoye are slower and not as large as we would like -they need a good rain! - but they are still good and will be ready early next week. It's a good idea to give us a call or an email before driving too far.
Happy Picking!

Looks like there will be ripe strawberries about the middle of next week (if we can keep Tom out of there). Be sure and call or email us to know for sure. Bring your own bucket and save a dollar! Or pick in one of ours and put them into your containers. We will have quart containers at no charge. See you soon!

Tom just ate the first ripe strawberry! Keep watching for picking day!

On the average there are 400 tiny seeds in a strawberry!

Rain! Finally! When everyone around was getting some of that precious rain, we were green with envy. We means us and not our garden! After a couple of weeks of watering we had an inch of rain over the weekend. What a difference it makes.
Asparagus is coming to an end. I pickled 7 quarts yesterday, probably my last. This week will definitely be the end of the cutting. There's lots of asparagus soup in the freezer so keep that in mind next winter. The end of the asparagus season is always sad but it means strawberries are just around the corner. We are still predicting picking to begin around the 20th.
Strawberry season is such fun. We see our "seasonal friends" and enjoy their yearly visit. There's a picnic table available under the maple trees. We've a cooler with water and soda; if it's a cool morning, we might even find a coffee pot! This year we are having a coloring contest for kids 8 and younger. Our artist friend, Paulette, will be the judge! There's a prize for the winner! We have an abundance of kittens this year for anyone who's looking for a pet. (No, that is not the prize!) Be sure to sign our guest book at the farm. We want everyone to get a newsletter and had many undeliverable ones this last time. Berries will be available by the quart for folks who really can't use a full bucket. We have some great new recipes and would love to have any recipe folks want to share with us.
We'll be seeing you soon!