The Bee's Knees: Food for Hibernation

Well, the small chest freezer is starting to fill up. Since I'm raising two fruit bats, I decided that I would pick and freeze any and every available fruit and veggie, while it's in season. During the winter, I can easily spend $60 a week on produce alone. But....the kids are healthy eaters, so I should just stop my bitching, right? It's crazy. My eye starts twitching every time the weather turns cold and I need to food shop.

So, every week, I load the kids into the car and we drive on out to the orchard. I always have these romantic visions of happy, frolicking children, who are polite, cheerful, agreeable, and pleasant the entire time. Apparently, my dream veered off into a cannabis patch because that's never happened. I always time it wrong. So, my fault entirely. It's either too hot, too close to dinner, too close to nap, too buggy, too the wrong shoes, and on and on.

but....isn't it nice to have a strawberry/rhubarb pie in January? I made 3 this summer, and Blake ate one - the whole thing - while watching a movie in bed one night. Of course, his stomach was a mess for a few days, but that didn't stop him from reminding me to bring home the leftover pie from book club a week later.

I loaded up cookie sheets with strawberries for freezing. It was Nina's job to put the frozen berries into ziplock bags a couple of days later. Cha-ching - saving myself $15, I said. Feeling all cocky, I forgot to calculate the cost of picking berries, gas to get there, 2 whoopie pies at the farm stand.....ummmm....but they taste so much better than the store bought ones.

Aren't these just the prettiest things? Asher started hyperventilating when he saw them. He plunked in blueberry-eating body down as close as he could get and just started shoveling them in. They should have weighed him before we started because that boy can pack them away. Nina was also grazing the entire time, but she was more selective. All she wanted was an ice cream cone and a bottle of water. The entire time. I think I heard this request 548 times in the half hour that we were there. I finally caved - mainly to get her to shut up. It was really hot, though.

I finally had to put Asher in his stroller because Nina and I would fill up the container, move on to the next bush, only to turn around and find the berries all gone. Asher would be looking innocent, and signing "more", while pointing at the empty container. (All in all, I think it's a good idea to teach young toddlers sign language because it cuts down on their frustration until they can full articulate their needs....however, it's pretty much the same as asking for water and ice cream 548 times).