Opening Day of Jelly Season

This morning bright and early, Steve, Rachael, five little girls, and I headed out into the field for the opening day of jelly season. Each of us armed with a gallon bucket, we hit the field with an enthusiasm only seen on Opening Day. Within an hour, we had filled our buckets with bright red, ripe strawberries. Our shirts stained strawberry red from tasting as we picked, we knew that this was a very special day and our excitement was contagious to those picking berries around us. They were unaware that this was Opening Day of Jelly Season - they were only in the field to pick strawberries to take home to eat on ice cream or shortcake. A few remarked about how brave we three adults were to enter Jelly Season with all these little girls. Undaunted, we laughed and talked about making jelly as we herded the girls into our cars for the caravan trip back to my treehouse kitchen.

Once in the kitchen, the girls set to work crushing berries and squeezing the juice out of them. What a mess! But what fun! We could hardly keep up with them with washed and capped berries ready for squeezing. Once this was accomplished, we had enough juice for several batches. The jars were then prepared, lids dried, and everything was set up for jelly cooking. Five little girls learned how to count cups of sugar and how to measure carefully so that the jelly would be perfect. They also helped stir the juice in the pot, pour the sugar into the pot once it began to boil, and watch as I poured the hot liquid into the jelly jars. Of course, they had to take a taste from the skimmings to announce that the jelly tasted good enough to keep. The first batch was made, and we all waited to hear the pop of the lids telling us that the jelly was sealed securely in the jars.

Rachael prepared sandwiches for everyone, and after eating, the girls lost interest in the activity in the kitchen. Steve, Rachael and I made a few more batches of jelly and jam while they played outdoors and in the toy corner in my living room. They reappeared when it was time to place labels I had made on the jelly jars: "Strawberry Jelly, Spring 2008, Made by Elie, Charleston, Clark, Hadli and Lillie, in Aunt Jennie's Treehouse Kitchen." They each selected several jars to take home with them. With hugs and kisses, they said they wanted to come back some day to make more jelly. I imagine I'll see them again before Jelly Season is over!

As I cleaned up the sugar, spilled juice and jelly, and strawberry pulp from the kitchen counters and floor, I knew that Opening Day of Jelly Season had been a success. After strawberry comes blackberry, then wild plum, followed by scuppernong and muscadine bringing up the rear in the Fall. And who knows? We may try peach, pear, and apple this year, depending on the abundance of summer fruit. In Jelly Season, one has to be open to all possibilities.