Dispatches from Madtown: Strawberry Picking

I took the morning off from work last Thursday and Owen and I went strawberry picking just outside of Sun Prairie, about 2o-25 mins from our house. Owen got a little antsy on the drive, first insisting that we couldn't possibly be in Madison anymore because we had been in the car so long (10 mins). And no matter how many times I assured him we were still in Madison, he insisted that we weren't. 5 minutes when he asked again if we were in Madison and I told him no, now we are in Sun Prairie he insisted we could not possibly have left Madison. This was after he told me I was wrong about the new building going up on campus - I said it was the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and he said it was a motel. Owen will argue with me about anything, just for the sake of arguing (just a few weeks ago he argued with me when I told him it was Tuesday, insisting that it wasn't). I started to get pretty frustrated and lose my temper a little bit - I don't like it much when someone insists I'm wrong when I know full well that I'm right - before realizing how pointless it was to argue with a 4 1/2 yr old (who probably got his tendency to argue for the sake of arguing from yours truly).

It was pretty much the tail end of strawberry season here - it was the last day at the farm we went to - so the picking was not optimal. The week before was peak, but it was so hot here I just couldn't bring myself to go. It was pretty picked over and many of the remaining berries were over-ripe, but we still managed to pick a 10 lb flat. Owen had a quart box he was picking into and he insisted on putting his berries in there and not in the flat box I had, even when his box was completely overflowing. He also, to my surprise, refused to eat any of the berries while we were picking, though I did finally convince him to eat one berry once we were finished. It's not that Owen doesn't like strawberries - he loves them in fact. I guess he just had it in his head that he was there to pick, not to eat. Apparently he has more self-control than I do.

Over the weekend, we took our berries and made our first attempt at making jam. Owen loved smashing up the berries and stirring the mixture and also sampling the jam when it was done. I guess technically I made jam once 6 or 7 years ago with Sandi Longhini after going thimbleberry picking with her and Kirsti. But actually, she did all the work of making the jam while I mostly watched. I guess I might have smashed the berries and stirred a little. Anyway, I think our strawberry jam turned out pretty good for our first try. Now Owen and I are getting ready for raspberry picking season!