The Great Jam Miracle

Well, if you haven't noticed yet, it is strawberry season!  Yum.  Fresh, super sweet strawberries are yours for the picking at local farms, or you can go the lazy way like me and buy them from a farm stand.  Just so you know, I consider it sacrilege to buy strawberries from the supermarket at this time of year.

So, fresh strawberries means it's jam time!  Now, I'm pretty new to the jam making scene.  I've only made it once before, but I was very gung ho this year.  I have been babying my rhubarb all spring for just this time so I could make strawberry rhubarb jam. Mmmmmmm.

So jam making day came.  I had everything ready and I was planning on a really great day.  Life, on the other hand, had other plans for me.  I don't recall exactly what ticked me off that morning, two many things to do, too many interruptions  . . . I'm sure my husband a kids had something to do with it, but by the time I started making my jam I was in a foul mood.  I was slamming spoons and growling to myself and then I lifted up a mason jar and saw this;

If that isn't a sign, I don't know what is.  A sign that was telling me to slow down and enjoy the process of what I was doing (pardon the pun).  It changed my whole attitude.  I wasn't just making jam, I was making love in a jar!  All that growing and hulling and boiling and sugar was gonna make something special!  Often people are so busy being wrapped up in themselves, they completely ignore the present moment and it passes them by.  This was my chance to tune out everything around me and enjoy the task of making my jam.  And I did.  And it was worth it.

By the time I started cleaning everything up, I was humming to myself.  And that's when I moved a wooden spoon and found this; (I swear, this is for real)!

Wow.   So that is The Great Jam Miracle.  Get out to the farm stand and have on of your own!

Michy