we are berry pickers now? 🍓🫐
the 3-year-old budget for fruit is unlimited apparently
The 1-year anniversary of Lovingly Made is coming up!
June 25 was my first post ever last year, introducing myself and how I found myself writing this newsletter, which you can read below.
While I might still be figuring out my whole Substack aesthetic between all of the other things that life throws at me, I want to take this time to thank each and every one of you for subscribing. This space may not be all new recipes all the time, but neither is real life. I really enjoy and am honored to be writing for an audience that has an interest in the world of home cooking.
As the freelance music scene is slowing down for summer, you can expect to find some changes here, a little glow-up, if you will — new colorful banners, new post formats, a recipe index! I just have to make it through the July outdoor concerts 🥵
And to celebrate 1 year on Substack, I am offering a FREE PANTRY OR RECIPE CONSULTATION to all current and future paying subscribers. New annual paid subscriptions will be at a 15% forever discount for the next 2 weeks. These consultations are meant to give inspiration and assistance — whatever your questions might be, I’m here to give my best answers. Please send me a direct message on Substack to claim yours, and I look forward to working with you!
What is the best ever summer activity for a preschooler?
In case you couldn’t guess by the title of this week’s issue, it’s berry picking. There are the kids who eat every berry as they pick them, and there are the kids who insist that every single berry gets put in the box. My kid is surprisingly, and somehow not surprisingly at all, the latter. With a mom who is not extremely disciplined at all 😉, I have no idea where he gets this from…
This week’s issue is going to be slightly more parenting-focused than usual, because that’s just the season of life that I am in right now. And frankly, it’s rough — the meltdowns and tantrums are only getting realer from here, y’all. I’m just riding the waves and hanging on for dear life at this point. 🌊🥴
So when I come across things like BERRY PICKING that give my child the purest joy I’ve ever witnessed, I feel the need to share more of these things. And maybe this can be a good reminder to everyone to try to enjoy life the way a 3-year-old does.
Picking berries with a preschooler for the first time struck me with the realization that this is probably the first time that he’s actually processing where food comes from.
We’ve been growing cherry tomatoes (or “toe-toe-ohms”, as he used to call them 🥹) in our tiny raised bed since he was born, and last summer he was picking them off the plant to eat like a possessed raccoon — ahh the little bits of nature that a city boy gets to see up close without the possibility of there being bits of broken glass around. But the berry picking was a profound revelation. The hands-on quality of that experience had clearly opened up a whole world to him, I could see it in his eyes, and that in turn opened up a whole world to me. What other life experiences could we introduce to bring that same life-changing reaction on?
What are / were some of your favorite activities to introduce to your children? Any and all advice welcome!
Beyond the wholesome, almost saccharine, experience of berry picking, is a U-Pick farm actually worth the money? A thousand times yes. The best example I can think of is our most recent outing to go raspberry picking, literally yesterday — let’s compare:
We paid $15.50 for 2 pints of fresh U-Pick raspberries. That’s 32 oz, or 2 pounds, more if you’re really piling them on while you’re picking.
$0.48 per ounce
A grocery store 6 oz clamshell of conventionally-grown raspberries is at the very least $3.69 (at Target). Flown in from California, or god knows where.
$0.62 per ounce
I think the choice is obvious here. It’s generally a better price to pick them yourself AND you get to watch your child’s brain explode? That’s a win-win.
Berry farms are not known for implementing organic practices, and this is generally due to several factors including the fact that organic certifications are crazy expensive for smaller producers and that the nature of growing berries is rough-going. As I understand it, organic berry crop yields and quality (from farms that are not owned by some conglomerate food corporation) are generally lower than non-organic counterparts due to weather patterns, pests, and other plant diseases. These things are managed easier with a system called integrated pest management, a sort of “nature first, chemicals if necessary” approach. See a good explanation on this here on the website of the U-Pick farm that we have been frequenting recently, which is an explanation that I have frequently seen / heard and is consistent with various local fruit farms. Consistency is always a plus, I guess.
What to do with all the berries? Well, obviously you snack on them to your heart’s desire first. (My husband will never get over the feeling of being able to dig your hand into a 10 pound box of blueberries and barely make a dent.) And then, you probably guessed it: you freeze them.
HOW TO FREEZE BERRIES
Freezing berries is as simple as cleaning them, thoroughly drying them, laying them out on a baking sheet in a single layer, and putting said baking sheet in the freezer until frozen. A no-brainer Squirreling It Away item to stockpile for winter, like in-season vegetables, but with slightly more pressure on as the fruit growing seasons tend to be shorter. At least here in central Indiana they seem to be only a few weeks long, and I think it’s because it gets hot and humid so fast. Just a few hours north and you have a stellar fruit season all summer long. Jealous.
Buying or picking local fruit in bulk and freezing is just the first step. Now what? You can see some recipes from some of my past issues below for some practical and low-effort ideas:
squirreling it away #3: morning smoothie prep
Gonna take a moment here to ask you all a quick question:
unsung heroes of food — rhubarb
I have this impression of rhubarb as an old-fashioned food, a required favorite of everyone’s grandmother or great-grandmother.
Or you can make yogurt bark, another new favorite activity of my 3-year-old.
We used this recipe from A Mind Full Mom, and it turned out better than I expected. Freezing dairy without further processing always turns out a weird textured product, but the addition of maple syrup in this recipe helps prevent the yogurt from completely curdling 👌 Just mix and spread into an even layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, top with your favorite fruits, chopped nuts, chocolate chips, maybe even a swirl of compote?? Doing all the pouring, mixing, and sprinkling all variations of topping combinations your child can think of is a solid 20-30 minute hands-on activity.
My advice for serving frozen yogurt bark to small hands and mouths: break it into bigger chunks for storage, then into very small bite-size pieces as you serve it to avoid Yogurt Hands.
NO SATURDAY FARMERS MARKET HAUL THIS WEEK OR NEXT WEEK 😭
I am headed to Florida for a family vacation on Monday, so there’s no need for groceries this week. I’m not even going to be able to make it to any farmers markets while I’m in FL, either. Which is devastating, I know.
Coming up this summer:
lots of grilling
superb summer salads
easy + healthful summer treats for little ones
getting over my eggplant aversion
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being here.
❤️ Sarah
With all the strawberries why not make some super easy ice cream with the kids? Just did a batch of strawberry sour cream ice cream from Zoe Bakes. It was adapted from David L’s Ice Cream book. Zoe uses frozen berries. No custard to make. Easy peasy, everyone loves it.