Stilwell Strawberries... At A Discount? Or Even Free?

[j5farm]

A friend (and trusted authority on this message board) noted I should post a strawberry thread (and the timing now seemed good)

Under an ODAFF grant from the State we embarked on saving the "Strawberry Capital" & modernizing production under the annual plasticulture method

We raised some great berries (many of which were enjoyed by Tahlequah FM patrons & Harps customers)

We also endeavored to put Adair County on the "Agritourism" map, literally, by opening the first & only "u-pick" berry patch

However, we also incurred more rain than our grower's association president has seen in 30 years

Coupled with late freeze & other factors, the loss was phenomenal... and psychotic government yield & price data kept our crop insurance from triggering

Anyway, we got the bright idea that "pre-selling" Spring 2018 berries at a discount (and giving away some great promotional gear along the way) would be a bona fide & legit "crowdfunding" event to bankroll another season for Stilwell U-Pick @ J5 Farm

Moreover, I just finished putting together a viral share campaign where you can get credit for simply sharing the "Share & Save" event with others... and you could end up with free strawberries

If you'd like to check out our website, where you can see a great 3 minute video overview including our 5 boys, you can do all of that (and register for a shot at free strawberries) by clicking here:


Stilwell U-Pick (StilwellUPick.com)

You can also go directly to our crowdfunding page (www.generosity.com/community-fundraising/stilwell-u-pick), but the video is larger (and the free berry contest entry) is at our website (so I recommend starting there instead): stilwellupick.com/

[heavyhitterokra]

Nice start Scott. Good looking family too. We're already looking forward to your next year's strawberries. This year, yours were the highest quality berries we saw anywhere! Lots of great strawberry shortcake for everyone

Keep up the good work.

[j5farm]

1/2 price stilwell strawberry sale/fundraiser, and the save/share contest with free berry prize, is now officially over.

[heavyhitterokra]

The old Stilwell Strawberry Capital is under siege from climate change. If things don't change very, very, soon, I'm afraid our strawberry connection will soon go the way of the Dodo.  The continual onslaught of deer depredation, the droughts, the 100-year floods, the insects, the unusually deep freeze of winter, and the freak, late Spring cold snaps of the last decade have pushed many growers to their very limit. We kind of got a taste of the situation at hand earlier this week, in an attempt to attain fresh, Stilwell strawberries for our yearly family strawberry jam making session.

... Thinking I could just drive to Stilwell and pickup fresh strawberries anytime during the months of May to mid-June, I casually got on the phone to order my berries, only to find out through the course of many conversations that there are only a handful of growers left standing this Spring. (If you can call less than a half dozen a handful).

Within about an hour's time, I found that almost all of my favorite growers have called it quits. By the time I worked my way down the list to Miller Farms, I found that if I were to put my name on the waiting list right now, for 2021 berries, I'd be about number 900 in a long line of anxious customers.

Due to high demand, it was quite an ordeal to attain any amount of berries larger than one quart, and there I was, looking for two whole flats. (In case you're wondering, that's 16 quarts of berries) or about 4 gallons.

After pulling a lot of strings and finding out about a couple of cancelations, I was finally able to purchase two flats, in piece mill fashion for $35.00 each (about $17.50 per gallon or about $4.38 per quart). Not too bad, considering what it takes, labor-wise, to bring a quart of finished berries from the field lately.

After hours of effort, lots of time on the phone, and several gallons of gasoline burned in pursuit of berries, we finally got to spend all day yesterday, making strawberry freezer jam; enough to last for another year.  After about half an afternoon's labor, we ended up with 36 pints of fresh, homemade, strawberry freezer jam.

After all that work, it sure was nice this morning, just to sit down and relax with a cup of hot coffee, while enjoying fresh strawberry jam on toasted and buttered bread. I think I'll just take off the rest of the day and spend some time with my wife, out in the yard, watching our baby geese and feeding sweet potato chips to our little deer. (Oh, what the heck, I'll probably end up smoking a rack of ribs for Mother' Day).

Our recipe for strawberry freezer jam:

2 cups of de-stemmed, chopped, strawberries
4 cups of granulated sugar
1 package of Sure-gel
3/4 cup of water

Directions:

Wash, de-stem, and chop the berries, then mash them into juicy-paste, using a potato masher.

In a big mixing bowl, measure out 2 cups of juicy-paste berries.

Pour 4 cups of sugar over the mashed berries and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Bring one package of Sure-Gel to a boil, using 3/4 cup of water.  Stir constantly for one minute while at a hard boil.

Pour boiling hot Sure-Gel over berry/sugar mixture.  Set timer for 10 minutes, stirring the mixture at 2 minute intervals for 10 minutes.

Ladle the jam into sterilized, glass canning jars, leaving a 1/2" inch of head space for freezer expansion.

Screw lids onto jars and let the jam rest on the counter overnight, then place the jars in the freezer the next day, store them there until you need them.

To use the frozen jam, just set a jar of it in your refrigerator a day ahead of time, or thaw it in a pan of warm water.

This recipe doesn't call for cooking the berries, thus making a much fresher tasting product with much more palatable berries.  This is nothing like the nasty, chewy, discolored stuff you buy in the grocery store.  Freezer jam is a much brighter color and has a much more delicate texture.  (Well worth the time and effort!)

[heavyhitterokra]

Nice!

I love this freezer jam recipe for the home gardener because it was designed for such a small amount of berries (Two cups). It's very easy to make and only requires one box of Sure-Gel. It's very obtainable with only a few plants needed to reach that goal.

Best of luck, Bon!

[heavyhitterokra]

I've never had any luck growing strawberries, too many critters around here for that. Sounds like you're off to a really good start though! Thanks, for posting.

[heavyhitterokra]

This is an interesting video about the history of strawberries.

It has been a lot of years since I've seen any wild strawberries growing in the woods around here. For some reason, wild strawberries grow in dappled shade, under mature trees, while domesticated strawberries require direct sunlight or they will not prosper. Much the same as wild onions versus domesticated onions.

My hat's off to whoever took the time to domesticate the wild strawberry. That must have been a daunting, centuries-long task.

[Deleted]

Once again, I learn that my gluttonous satisfaction comes from someone else's diligence.

My strawberries are coming in now.  I fear the rain might have washed out their flavor.  We'll see.

[heavyhitterokra]

Mmmm! Strawberries!

[Deleted]

We geared and showed up to the garden to dig and plant more corn, but found the strawberries.  5lbs of clean strawberries today.  More tomorrow.  It's so hard not to eat them, but to save for preservation for a nice winter treat.

[heavyhitterokra]

Woo-Hoo!

I'm so excited for you, congratulations, Bon, that's awesome!

Last year it cost us $17.50 per gallon for strawberries in bulk. We bought an entire flat of berries for $35.00 which is 8 quarts, or 2 gallons. I think a flat weighs 8 to 10 pounds? Who knows what it would have cost to buy a single container? Berries were high!

We were buying them as a Mother's Day gift and used them to spend the day with my step-mom, making freezer jam, which is really easy to do, but not if you can't find any berries. Last year, berries were nearly impossible to come by. That makes me happy just to think about you getting that many berries!  It sounds like all of that hard work you guys have put in is finally paying off in spades.

Here's our recipe:


Strawberry Freezer Jam:

2 cups of de-stemmed, chopped or mushed, strawberries
4 cups of granulated sugar
1 package of Sure-gel
3/4 cup of water

Directions:

Wash, de-stem, and chop the berries, then mash them into a juicy-paste, using a potato masher.

In a big mixing bowl, measure out 2 cups of juicy-paste berries.

Pour 4 cups of sugar over the mashed berries and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

In a separate container, bring one package of Sure-Gel to a boil, using 3/4 cup of water. Stir constantly for one minute while at a hard boil.

(Do not cook the berries) Just pour the boiling hot Sure-Gel over the cool, berry/sugar mixture. Set aside to cool.  set a timer for 10 minutes, stirring the mixture at 2 minute intervals for 10 minutes to incorporate the Sure-Gel.

While still hot, ladle the finished jam into sterilized, glass canning jars, leaving a 1/2" inch of head space for freezer expansion.

Screw lids onto jars and let the jam rest on the counter overnight, then place the jars in the freezer the next day.  Store them in the freezer until you need them.  (You'll probably want to set one jar aside in the refrigerator, so you can enjoy your fresh reward right away).

To use the frozen jam, just set a jar of it in your refrigerator a day ahead of time, or thaw it in a pan of warm water.

This recipe doesn't call for cooking the berries, thus making a much fresher tasting product with much more palatable berries. This is nothing like the nasty, chewy, discolored stuff that you buy in the grocery store. Freezer jam is a much brighter red color and has a much more delicate texture. (Well worth the time and effort!)

[Deleted]

Wow. Bumper crop.  I don't know what I"m doing with strawberries, but it's abundant to the point I can tell it's a bumper.  I messed up the first batch of freezer jam. Doesn't matter. There's plenty.  Tonight, I'll get that right.  

[heavyhitterokra]

Bon,

That is really great news!

That makes me very happy to hear. Strawberries are one of those instant gratification crops that take little or no preparation to enjoy, kind of like tomatoes, only better!

Enjoy your newfound success!

Any strawberry jam that doesn't gel, still makes wonderful ice cream topping, or just use it on pancakes or muffins instead.  There is no such thing as messing up when making freezer jam, just call it syrup, topping, or sauce, and keep on going.   

[Deleted]

Outstanding!  I lost a couple gallons from ignorance and until I figured out I could freeze them and process at a later time.  

My 2nd batch was runny.  You were correct.  Since then we have enjoyed this glorious strawberry syrup atop pancakes, home made biscuits, oatmeal, cream of wheat, malt o meal, strawberry cream cheese (the type with confectioner's sugar and whipped cream folded in), strawberry and fruit smoothies, folded into granola bars and we even tainted rice crispies with it's beautiful strawberry aroma.  Add a sprinkle of miniature chocolate chips and your mouth explodes.   Sometimes we eat a tablespoon all by itself because we need a sugar fix and because this strawberry freezer jam is that good.

[chrysanthemum]

That sounds wonderful, Bon. Congratulations on a good crop.

I enjoy occasionally pureeing strawberries with yogurt and ice cubes in the blender (perhaps with a mint leaf or two) and serving it as a cold lassi drink. My kids really love it.

I’ve also used strawberries puréed with yogurt as the wet ingredient component of homemade granola. That was a big success if I recall correctly.

I don’t grow strawberries, but a couple of times last year the local grocery had organic strawberries on a deep discount, and we stocked up and froze them. I’m sure your homegrown strawberries are so much better.