It's Strawberry Season!

One of the problems that Eric and I have run into with shopping at farmers markets is that too much tends to go to waste. The fruits and veggies go bad before we can eat them all. I don't know why I haven't thought of it before, but as I was browsing PickYourOwn.org, I found our answer: Freezing! I'm way too lazy at the moment to try to figure out canning (though we will try that out someday), plus we would have to buy all the equipment. Freezing is the perfect, simple solution.

Today Lucas and I went to the Hall Family Farm in Charlotte to get strawberries. I'm making my Grandma Pat's version of Strawberry Shortcake for Easter brunch, plus I wanted to try my hand at freezing my all-time favorite fruit. With the weird weather we've been having, the strawberries are ripening quickly so I was able to buy a 10lb pre-picked flat for $25 (found that deal on their Facebook page). It was rainy and wet anyways, so picking them myself whilst chasing a two-year-old out of mud puddles was out of the question.

Instead, we checked out the chickens.

Lots of berries to pick! We'll definitely go back when it's nicer outside!

Really sweet and not a bad one in the box! Here's what we went home with:

Resisting the temptation to eat a ton now, I spent the afternoon getting the strawberries ready to freeze or be turned into Strawberry Shortcake. It's super easy. First your wash them:

Then you let them sit in the strainer for 10 minutes:

Next, cut the tops off the strawberries and put them in pans that will fit in your freezer. Leave them in there over night, or at least long enough to freeze.

That's where I'm at now... waiting for them to freeze so I can bag them up in Ziplocs and leave them in the freezer. Amazing strawberries from the farm all year long!

Here are a ton of ways to use up your strawberries: An entire website devoted to strawberries!

I definitely want to try out the strawberry bread, and the strawberry soup.