Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

OUR FUR FAMILY NEEDS ALL THE GOOD THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS HE CAN GET

February 19, 2024

Our grand-dog has had so many health problems recently and there is the belief it may be caused by periodontal disease and fractured teeth. We almost lost him in December but by miracle he survived and tomorrow he'll be going in to have his teeth removed and the doctor will examine his mouth to see if she sees anything else. I'm so worried he won't survive the procedure. He has been on antibiotic numerous times since December to control the infection so my daughter doesn't have much of a choice right now on whether to address the teeth but it's going to be risky. Praying he'll survive and be a healthy boy again. 



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TO BE GRATEFUL

February 17, 2024

 

Despite my chronic health issues I'm so grateful for so much in my life. I'm grateful that my kids are happy and healthy, enjoying life. I'm grateful I have an awesome husband who always supports me. I'm grateful my grand-dog didn't die this past December and is still holding on and enjoying walks with us. I'm grateful for our beautiful home and the location we live, where we get to see wildlife every single day. 

For a long time, many years, I'd journal anytime I was upset about something or just sad. I recently decided to start a daily gratitude journal. It helps to remind me to stop and reflect every day on what has gone well and how thankful I am for it. It really has helped my mood to bring into awareness all of the things that are good in my life, and there is so much. 

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NEVER ENDING HEALTH CHALLENGES

February 10, 2024


My life was turned upside down in a single night October 2018. I went from having typical health challenges that everyone has as they get closer to 50 to fighting for my life. Multiple doctors from a variety of specialties, numerous SIBO treatments, a trip to Mayo, kidney surgery, and countless other diagnoses later, I am still fighting to be well. There has been a significant change in my mental health recently. I'm tired... really tired. Chronic illnesses take their toll on more than just a person's body. 

I've lost my optimism, my hope for better. Yet I keep going because that's what I do. 

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APPLE PICKING TIME

September 23, 2023

Every year at this time our family heads out for some apple picking because the girls love picking and I love making applesauce. My favorite apples to use are sweet tango. They have the perfect balance of sweet and sour so they can be used in applesauce recipes that contain sugar or no sugar. For myself I always make it without sugar and for the girls I make it with brown sugar. 

Here are two of my favorite recipes:

With Sugar

Without Sugar








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OUR FIRST GARDEN PARTY

July 17, 2023

My daughter and I have been wanting to have a potluck garden party for years but it's complicated since our entire backyard is forest and native plants with our man made trails going through. It's filled with pollinators, stinging and biting insects; all things we choose to attract with native plants but don't coexist in close proximity to people and our food very well. This year, since it's the 3rd year of the drought, we aren't getting the abundant wasp population we normally have because the Joe pye weed and goldenrod are a bit behind the blooming schedule so we had a chance to carve out a spot for a party. We removed a bunch of mint and chives to locate elsewhere and then cleared the ground for tables. Our little party was nestled in among the plants and everything went great. We didn't see a single mosquito, YAY, and only a few insects appeared to sniff at the food. 

We had a lot of crafting with friends. We're so grateful for wonderful people to spend time with creating in the beautiful outdoors. 





Painting by Maya Valadez


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OUCH! ACUPUNCTURE

July 4, 2023


For years I've had people tell me I should try acupuncture but I have a severe needle phobia so I've avoided it. I don't care how tiny the needle is, it's still a needle and just knowing it's being stuck into my skin is enough to make me sweat and worry. 

A few months ago I finally broke down and went for my first treatment. I had such severe anxiety at the time and nothing was helping with the reflux, insomnia, and adrenaline rushes that I thought acupuncture couldn't hurt. I first tried a place in Burnsville. I was amazed at my first session because I didn't feel the needles at all and the rush of energy I felt flowing through my body made me euphoric. I knew right away that I was hooked. My new doctor recently had me try a new acupuncturist in Roseville, one with more knowledge and experience with Chinese medicine, and I'm so glad I switched over to her because she's truly a master at what she does. 

Every time I get a treatment I walk out feeling 100x better than when I went in. I still fear the needles and I cringe every time I have to lay down on the table and be poked but I love the outcome so much I just don't care. I feel the needles more now which is a good sign according to the acupuncturist. My favorite part of each session is feeling the energy flow through my entire body. I use to only feel energy in my hands but now I sense it from my head to my toes. It's calming and healing for sure. 

If you've ever tried acupuncture I'd love to read about your experience. 


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LAWN BE GONE!

July 2, 2023

 In 2020 we removed a large portion of our front lawn and today we have just about 1/4 left to remove before it's all gone. We filled the empty space in with 90% native plants and have been very pleased with how it turned out. 

We aren't strangers to replacing non natives with natives. When we moved into our home nearly 16 years ago our entire backyard was buckthorn. It was an extension of the forest into Alimagnet park. Our first year we hired a company to remove all the buckthorn then after that we had to deal with flooding all the time so we had the yard regraded. After the regrading we bought a large sack of native wildflower seeds and spread them all over the backside of the house and within a year we started to see native grasses, goldenrod, Joe pie weed, daisies... Today we have so many natives growing back there I've lost count. The amount of wildlife that loves to be in our yard is what makes me the most happy. Frogs, toads, turtles, fox, rabbits, deer, snakes, wasps, hornets, bumblebees, hummingbirds, butterflies... We now see so many insects that we'd never seen before planting natives. We also stopped raking up our leaves in the fall and that has caused a boom in the firefly population around us. It's truly incredible and very special. 


Some people are surprised to learn that the adults of most firefly species are in fact pollinators. 

 
The honeybee isn't a native pollinator but it's a pollinator none the less.


Beautiful Monarch butterfly.



The bumblebee has some pollen on her legs.


When we removed a portion of our lawn in 2020. We did this on both sides of our driveway.


These are the plants we put in to replace the lawn. We have mountain mint, butterfly weed, bergamot, boneset, pearly everlasting... and many more.
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HAD FUN PICKING LAVENDER

July 1, 2023

Our family has wanted to visit a lavender farm for years but we've been unable to make a trip out to Washington state where they have the nations most beautiful lavender farms. We found one place in Wisconsin that grows lavender and allows visits but it is a five hour drive there, a ferry ride to an island, then a five hour drive back and I like to bring my granddog everywhere with us and they aren't dog friendly 😭 

This year while checking out Instagram I came across a post by a farmer just 10 miles from my house. She has a new lavender farm called Lavender Barnyard so I quickly signed us all up for some lavender picking and we headed over there. She's in the early stages of developing her business but she still had a good variety of lavenders to pick from and she has a great little gift shop. The owner is super nice and she shared her plans for expanding in the future, which we really look forward to because we'd like to make multiple visits each year. Following are some of the pictures we took from our first visit. 

We currently have the lavender hang drying in the living room and the whole area smells amazing!!








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HURRAY FOR BISON REINTRODUCTION IN MINNESOTA

May 31, 2023

We use to drive down to Mankato every year to see the bison herd but now the animals are much closer. Spring Lake Park Reserve has a small herd right now but there are plans to increase that number up to 500. This year a few babies were born so they are slowly working on that goal. It was wonderful to see them out there basking in the sun with their babies. 




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2023 SHEPHERD'S HARVEST FESTIVAL: DAY 1

May 13, 2023


We spent the day selling our soaps at the Shepherd's Harvest Festival today and had a great time as always. We really love this festival for the variety of people we get to talk to, all the amazing vendors, and the entertainment. The organizers always do a fantastic job of putting the event together in a very structured way and from a vendor and patron (which we use to be) standpoint it all runs smoothly. 

Of course, the very, very, very best part of the festival is always the sheep, alpacas, llamas and goats 😁

If you couldn't make it out today then we hope to see you tomorrow!







 

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TODAY IS A GOOD DAY

May 1, 2023




Today is really good day. The first in a while. I had an endoscopy today that came with good news! I am so happy. Esophagitis is just one of several things I've been dealing with along my health journey. There is no explanation for why I ended up with esophagitis, no underlying cause to be found yet, but the endoscopy results are good. *fingers crossed it stays that way. 

Shout out to Dr. Levine at Minnesota Gastroenterology in Eagan for being an excellent gastroenterologist. He truly is a really nice guy and a great doctor. As far as my experience goes, there are very food doctors I can call good out in this world, but he is one of them. 

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LET'S TALK ABOUT MEDICAL GASLIGHTING

April 30, 2023



Back in early 2018 was the first time I started to experience symptoms of being quite ill. The things that happened to me were nothing like anything I had ever experienced in my entire life. At that time I was 47 years old. The very first symptom I experienced was heart palpitations, air hunger, and a dry cough that went on for weeks. I saw my primary doctor, received no answers, and had my symptoms completely disregarded aside from giving me an EKG and told "drink more water." Next symptoms were anemia, acid reflux, severe abdominal bloating (looking like I was 6 months pregnant 90% of the day) on top of the heart palps and cough. Went back to primary doctor, received no answers, and had my symptoms completely disregarded aside from "take tums and iron." There was never any effort to find out why my health was suddenly changing. I even questioned if I was in perimenopause but was told I was too young for that and according to my doctor "those aren't symptoms of perimenopause. Hot flashes, low libido, dry vagina are symptoms." 

In September 2018 when bloating started to include constant flatulence, pain in chest radiating down left arm, and tingling in left hand, I returned to my primary doctor. She sent me to a cardiologist who disregarded my symptoms aside from saying "we could put you on beta blockers and see if that helps." There was no effort to find the underlying cause of anything I was experiencing. 

Mid October 2018 I was cleaning house when suddenly I experienced a sharp stabbing pain in my lower right abdomen. It was so intense I dropped to the floor. I thought maybe it was an appendicitis but both my sister and mother had their appendixes out and the only symptoms I shared with them was that sudden pain and nothing else. For several days following, the pain would come in waves. This was now added to the acid reflux, bloating, flatulence, pain in chest and left arm, tingling in hand, and heart palpitations and cough that would come and go. I downplayed everything as having to do with aging even though perimenopause was disregarded by my doctor. I stopped ignoring my symptoms when a week later I woke up in the middle of the night with what I thought was the stomach flu except it wasn't just severe nausea, it also came with horrific stomach burning. It wasn't the flu. Over the next few days I tried eating lots of yogurt and a bland diet but the feelings didn't go away. I made the mistake of asking Dr. Google what was wrong with me.

Dr. Google told me I had ovarian cancer!!

Since my grandmother died of ovarian cancer that information sent me straight back to the doctor to ask for an abdominal ultrasound. She laughed and told me to calm down. After listening to my symptoms she decided maybe I had a kidney stone and ordered an X-ray. When that came back clear aside from it showing a ton of air in my colon, she then handed me a prescription of lexapro (an antidepressant) and said that since she had seen me 2 other times in her office over the past six months that she believed I had health anxiety because of my mother having a heart attack and grandmother dying of cancer. I insisted she was mistaken and that there was something seriously wrong with me and I begged "could you please just do an ultrasound." Nope. She wouldn't. So I insisted she do a pelvic exam. She was openly annoyed with me but reluctantly agreed and then says "I do feel something but it could be a fibroid." Yet she still wouldn't do an ultrasound. I left in pain and afraid. I tossed the script for lexapro in the trash.

I made an appointment with my sister's doctor and he agreed to order the ultrasound. For good measure he also ordered a mammogram since it was due. Both tests came back clear. He diagnosed me with gastritis and told me it was probably caused by health anxiety and he too tried to prescribe lexapro. Ugh! I bought into the gastritis diagnosis since I had been under a lot of stress in the past few years but I didn't suffer from health anxiety so I refused to accept the lexapro! He told me to go home, eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, drink lots of water. I did as he instructed and I continued to get much worse. So he prescribed Zantac. It didn't help and symptoms were increasing. I started getting total right side abdominal pain, severe acid reflux, horrid nausea, dizziness, brain fog, hair falling out, and I lost the ability to have a bowel movement. So he prescribed Prilosec (omeprazole ppi) and then my health took an even bigger nose-dive. 

On omeprazole the area over my ileocecal valve (lower right abdomen) looked like I had an egg under my skin, it was constantly swollen and when I'd press it would gurgle like it was full of air but as soon as I'd let go it would fill right up again and boy was it painful. The entire lower right side of my body felt like I was being stabbed with a knife constantly. That area from my hip to my liver was in chronic pain. My whole abdomen made noises all day, loud enough that people across the room could hear. The brain fog was intense, I developed tinnitus, my vision was worsening, food would make a full transit through my body in 6-9 hours and come out undigested. The scariest symptom of all was I was rapidly losing weight. Between October 28 and end of December I lost 25 lbs. I was misdiagnosed with IBS, Gastritis, a stomach ulcer. When I started having hour long panic attacks and my research led me to finding out it was the omeprazole, even though the doctor denied it, I took myself off.  

I ended up jumping doctor to doctor looking for help. Each doctor would run tests, in total I had a colonoscopy, endoscopy, anorectal manometry, multiple X-rays, multiple CT scans, numerous urine and blood tests, all of which produced no answers. I was wasting away, living off of bone broth, sunflower seeds, cucumbers, and oatmeal. Thankfully at one point a nutritionist gave me the physicians elemental diet to help me stop the weight loss and get nutrients back into my body. At one point I ended up at the Mayo Clinic. In 8 months I saw 14 different medical professionals ranging from gastroenterologists, general practitioners, surgeons,  family medicine doctors, functional medical doctors, naturopathic doctors, and even 2 psychiatrists. Most of them disregarded my symptoms as health anxiety and wanted me to take an antidepressant or just go away. The ones that didn't think it was health anxiety gave up on figuring out what was wrong with me (excluding the surgeons and naturopaths). The doctor at Mayo even suggested I was deliberately starving myself. 

The most difficult part to explain through all of this to my friends, family, and doctors was yes, I am anxious but I didn't start out that way. I wasn't a hypochondriac. I am the girl that suffers for weeks or months before I go to the doctor. When I was first diagnosed with hashimotos back in 2015 I had suffered with symptoms for years before I finally decided to get checked out. I'm a fantastic excuse maker. I told myself that the changes in my body were from stress and age long before I decided I'd better get examined. I wasn't anxious about the symptoms and didn't even become concerned until they impacted my quality of life and the anxiety crept in when the doctors started gaslighting me when I knew damn well that something was wrong me. 

After being medically gaslit and being left mostly bed-bound from pain for months I was finally diagnosed by a surgeon with nephroptosis and a naturopathic doctor diagnosed me with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO). I had to do my own research by digging through medical journals to find symptoms that fit mine in order to find someone to help me. I fortunately found a surgeon in the state of Michigan who had me come out as soon as he received my email explaining my symptoms. Once the SIBO was treated to a point that I was strong enough to handle the operation I had kidney surgery (nephropexy) in August 2018. I was convinced the kidney fell into my pelvis and caused the SIBO so I was hopeful once I had surgery I'd make a full recovery and get my life back. I was wrong.

From June 2019-December 2022 I remained under the care of the naturopathic physician that diagnosed me and treated the SIBO (multiple times). I thought he was my savior but turned out he failed me too. Over those years each time SIBO was treated it would return. I was never able to gain my weight back or return to eating a wide variety of foods. I lived strictly on the Simple Carbohydrate Diet to keep the diarrhea, bloating, and pain away. I would question the naturopathic doctor many times about why I never seem to get back to eating more foods or gaining weight, a question he'd always ignore. In summer 2022 I started mentioning to him that I had constant mucus in my throat and by November it felt like I was swallowing a rock. He didn't offer anything new. In December 2022 the heartburn started, I was having abdominal pain, gas, diarrhea, and food sensitivities against so end of the month I ended up getting an endoscopy and was diagnosed with grade c esophagitis. I was in shock! All that time instead of getting better I had actually gotten worse. I was losing weight rapidly AGAIN and dropped from 118 lbs to 106 lbs. The naturopath started gaslighting me. Downplaying the severity of my symptoms. Honestly, he was making it obvious he didn't want anything to do with me anymore. He had me misdiagnosed for years and now he obviously wanted to jump ship.

I went to my new primary doctor who was actually someone I knew and thought I could trust only to have her gaslight me also. I'm standing before her wasting away and in tears and she had the nerve to say it was anxiety. It was deja vu all over again. I tried to explain the hives I was getting on my hands from water and how the water tastes like I swallowed some harsh synthetic chemical and she just looked at me like I was insane. So... I did what anyone who is constantly gaslit does. I agreed AGAIN to see a psychiatrist just like I had four years before, but this doctor said "oh no, you don't need to see a psychiatrist, I can prescribe something for you." I ignored that and sought out a psychiatrist on my own.

I ended up seeing a psychiatrist who has a stellar reputation and a lot of experience in my state. After sitting down with him he determined my anxiety is purely a result of being ignored by doctors. He offered to speak to any doctor that gaslights me in the future. I instantly messaged my primary doctor to let her know that he was willing to speak to her and she never responded. She later messaged me about something else I had mentioned in my message but completely skipped over the part about the psychiatrist. That told me all I needed to know about her.

So I'm back to square one with my health. Tomorrow I get another endoscopy to see if I'm healing or getting worse. Three weeks after the endoscopy I am scheduled to see a doctor that came highly recommended. She apparently works with complex cases and I am really holding out hope she can help me. 

So far I know I have SIBO again, low beneficial bacteria in my gut, and acid reflux induced esophagitis. None of those three are causes, they are symptoms of something else. To cure them an underlying cause must be found. To this day I've not received a definitive diagnosis, treatment, or even a small explanation for what I'm experiencing. If the doctor I see later in May has answers I will be back to announce what those are in hopes it will help anyone else going through the same thing. 

*****

Medical gaslighting is a term "used to describe a type of manipulation that is designed to make another person doubt their own judgement or question their reality. "Medical gaslighting" describes the experience of having a medical concern dismissed or arbitrarily attributed to a psychological or neutral cause by a healthcare provider."

Medical gaslighting, like social gaslighting, is a form of emotional abuse. It is traumatizing for patients, causing confusion, self-doubt, and helplessness, which, ironically, can lead to anxiety and depression.

My symptoms through all of this have been:

enlarged spleen, random swelling of lymph nodes in neck, abscess in throat that came and went after 2 weeks, mouth sores that come at random and go away after about a week or two, electric shocks in my eyes or back that hit at random, hair loss that goes on for months then stops and regrows thick and then starts again, hives that appear at random, itchy legs on and off that I scratch til they bleed, vertigo, plugged ear sensation, tinnitus, dental pain, nausea like morning sickness, acid reflux, esophageal spasms, gurgling throughout abdomen, pain and swelling over ileocecal valve, typical IBS type symptoms (IBS M), sharp pains that hit in the abdomen at random that makes me scream in pain, reactions to water at random, water tasting like hairspray, extreme sensitivities to food, air trapped in stomach (can't burp), joint pain, interstitial cystitis, insomnia, shoulder pain that radiates down arm, phantom cramping, lower back pain making it difficult to bend over, middle back pain, chronic right sided abdominal pain from hip to liver, tons of air in abdomen 24/7, severe weight loss. 

^But apparently all of that is caused by health anxiety and no cause for concern. 😖 It's a terrible, terrible feeling to be optimistic about seeing a doctor you believe will diagnose and treat whatever condition you have to ultimately just have them look at you like you're crazy and hand you an antidepressant. If you've never experienced such a thing I hope you never will. 

I once saw a doctor about the weight loss. It was after losing 7 lbs in a week and discovering I fit into a size 00 pants (after being a size 8 just a couple months before). At my appointment the nurse checking me in said she needed to get the children's blood pressure cuff to take my bp because my arms were so small. I was horrified. I knew if I couldn't eat I'd die. When the doctor came in and I told her what was happening to me she suggested I eat a donut or two, then kinda laughed. At the time I wanted to ask her "if I can't eat 99% of fruits and veggies, what makes you think I can eat a donut? Are you truly suggesting I eat junk food to get better?" But I didn't ask that because I'm not a fool. I know who has the power at medical appointments. If we advocate for ourselves too forcefully they'll label us crazy or worse, have us removed from the property by security. If we sound too snarky or annoyed we could end up being banned for good from the clinic. 

Every time I've gone to the doctor in the last 4 years I've been desperate for answers so the last thing I want to do is piss off the person I am begging to help me, but it seems it doesn't take much to trigger a doctor. Just disagreeing with their assessment makes them angry or annoyed. When a doctor decides our symptoms are psychosomatic there is little we can do to change their mind. The trust between doctor and patient is essentially gone at that point and it's time to move on. I've had to move on a lot. 😔 

BTW/I'd love a donut. I miss the nutty long John from Tobey's in Hinckley, MN. If I could eat a dozen right now I would. I also miss cherry cheesecake A LOT!!!! 

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WHEN LIFE GETS YOU DOWN...START JOURNALING

April 17, 2023


I've faced many challenges in my life but dealing with a chronic health problem that has gone undiagnosed for years has been by far the most difficult. Instead of helping, 99% of doctors have just made it worse. The anxiety I struggle with on a daily basis can be debilitating which is why I see a psychologist. Not only do I have complex medical PTSD that requires EMDR therapy, I'm also dealing with debilitating symptoms and struggling to get a diagnosis.

I started seeing the psychologist to help me cope with the stress and anxiety that comes from being chronically ill and not getting the proper diagnosis so I can be successfully treated or at least helped to feel better. One of the most helpful things the psychologist suggested to me is to start journaling, especially before bed if my mind is racing. I'm no stranger to keeping a journal, I've done so on and off since I was a child, but over the past decade or so I stopped and so writing my daily thoughts again has been really therapeutic. One thing I've really been drawn to lately is journal prompts. Normally I'll write about my feelings, the weather, and anything new that may have come up in my life but I often like to get outside my own dark world for a second and be pushed into writing about something I otherwise wouldn't have thought of.  Journal prompts are really helpful for this and it keeps me from obsessing on my physical issues. 

Following are some of the prompts I've chosen over the last few months. If you enjoy journaling maybe you'll like these prompts too. 

1. I am proud of myself because...
2. If you were a feral cat, how would you spend your day?
3. On my worst days I want to remember that...
4. What 3 things (no people) that bring you the most joy?
5. My favorite memory from last year was...
6. What is the most valuable thing you've learned from life so far?
7. What is one thing you'd like to manifest this week?
8. Write about your favorite season.
9. How can I make tomorrow better than today?
10. What's something outside you are grateful for?


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NATURE FIND

April 14, 2023

My daughter and I were enjoying a walk on this beautiful day in Minnesota when we stumbled upon a pretty large owl pellet, about golf ball size. This is the first time we've found one in the wild. She dissected a few back when she was in elementary school and when I homeschooled my youngest I ordered some owl pellets for her to dissect but we've never located one outdoors. It was fun digging through to see what little bones we could find.  

Have you ever found an owl pellet in nature?




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THE JOY OF VISITING NORTHERN MINNESOTA & GOOD FRIENDS

October 13, 2020

 Spent a day visiting a dear friend in northern Minnesota a week ago. My friend lives completely off-grid on over 80 acres of land in the middle of the forest surrounded by the most diverse wildlife (plants and animals) you will find in the state of MN. It truly is a little piece of heaven at his place. It was a great place to escape to for the day.

Here is my daughter and my friend checking out a wolf den.



We found some bobcat scat.


My friend showed us how to identify wild ginger by sight and taste.


We explored around all the beautiful trees growing on his property; sugar maples, aspen, cedar, white pine...

My favorite part was walking for hours in the woods taking in the awesome autumn smell in the air and learning about our surroundings.


Thank you, Barry. 

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2016 EARLY SUMMER PLANT WALK

June 17, 2016

This past weekend my oldest daughter and I attended another herbal workshop.  This time the location was a beautiful farm in North Central, MN and it was the perfect spot since there was a great variety of wild edibles and medicinals spread over the property, even this beauty… truly growing wild, there were just two plants on the 38 acres.


I think my daughter had the most fun hanging out with the chickens 


While I was busy eating wild foods


We talked about many plants including the a variety of uses for Solomon's Seal


and Black Medick


There wasn't a boring minute while Lise Wolff talked


I really can never get enough of these plant walks.  Lise Wolff is like an herbal encyclopedia that I wish I could just put on a shelf and open when needed.  How she mentally files away so much detail about medicinal and edible plants I will never know.

It truly was a great day!

For anyone who lives in MN and may be interested in these workshops, here is a link to Lise Wolff's website .  Her classes are not always posted on her site but if you sign up for emails she'll definitely send you one when a workshop or class is scheduled.
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STRAWBERRIES!!! TIME TO GET PICKING!

June 11, 2015

It is that time of year again, when the kids think they get to sleep in for the first time since the school year ended but instead I am dragging them out of bed at 6 am to go berry picking.

We headed out to our favorite farm yesterday, Sam Kedem's Nursery in Hastings. It was a perfect day; sun was shining and temps were decent.  When we arrived, there were more pickers than I am use to so we got busy before all of the berries were gone.  We ended up with 16 lbs worth of juicy organic strawberries and rushed home to make jam.  

As usual, what was suppose to be a family affair turned into my oldest daughter cutting up all of the strawberries and me finishing the rest on my own. LOL! That's ok, I enjoy it. 












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