Oh the insanity!

Yesterday Jeremy and I went crazy at the farmer's market. We stopped at Schultz Family Farm and bought three flats of raspberries - Royal and Red. We've been wanting to do u-pick at their farm, but the farmer keeps telling us there aren't enough for picking.



Because we bought so many berries from him, he also gave us a dozen eggs from his chickens!

We also picked up another dozen eggs from Sunshine Harvest Farm; jade beans, onions, and garlic from Prairie Hollow Farm; trout from Star Prairie Farm; Provider beans and a yellow watermelon from Loon Organics; cheese from our cheese guy; soap from Olsen Naturals; and, last but not at all least, blueberries from Heathglen Organic Farm. The farmer's markets are bursting with fruits and vegetables! Jeremy had also discovered relatively local (Wisconsin) cherries so he swung by to buy a flat of sweet yellow and red cherries. He just loved the jam we made from the cherries Ashley brought that he had to have more.



After brunch with a friend, we came home and spent the rest of the day cooking and making jam. We made 8 half pints of royal raspberry jam, 4 half pints of red raspberry jam, 4 half pints of sweet yellow cherry jam, and 2 pints of red cherry jam. In the midst of that we also made a quiche for dinner! Our kitchen was so packed out Jeremy had to cook the quiche in the kitchen upstairs.



By the end of the day there was cherry and raspberry juice spattered all over the walls and counters and oven and all over us! We had stained pink wooden spoons, the counter top, sponges, our aprons, and our hands.

Right now Jeremy is processing and freezing kale (which we got from some unclaimed CSA boxes) and after church we'll be making blueberry jam, maybe some more cherry jam, and we'll be canning a ton of beans. Jeremy might also try his hand at making more watermelon pickles.

No rest for the... insane!


UPDATE!
By Sunday evening we had finished the rest of our jam (so we did 24 half pints and 2 pints total)...



...we had sorted through our beans...



...and canned them! (even though we ended up freezing a bunch more because we didn't want to stay up till midnight to can another batch) ...



...and Jeremy had time to cut up our yellow watermelon so he could make watermelon pickles (which you make out of the rind).



All this to the immense relief of our fridge which was bursting at the seams: