One a day, plus iron

I got another about 800g of raspberries over the last few days but I'm kind of tired of it and my freezer is getting quite full. At this point that any further raspberries I pick are going directly into my mouth. Here endeth the official raspberry season.

I do need a covered dish for the Horse Thing on Friday (clinic) and I may endeavor to provide black raspberry pastries to that event. I'll probably pretty them up a little over my usual efforts because I will be trying to get normal people to eat them instead of, y'know, my usual peeps who already know that they will be delicious. I think I have a wavy edged tart cutter. May have to examine the options in my kitchen drawer, I threw a lot of stuff out, so not sure what is available on that front. Half moons will also work nicely. We shall see.

After I told my mom about the bumper crop of raspberries this year, my mom specifically asked for raspberry jam. She does not ask me for many things and she's 81. And while I don't have the world's best mother-daughter relationship, certainly raspberry jam is not beyond me when I am literally awash in raspberries.

( Thoughts on preserves? )

946 grams today. For those keeping track, I have now picked 3267 grams of raspberries. Three kilos and change, I guess? (This is about 7 pounds.) A lot, anyway. This is probably the best I'll do for a one-day harvest and I am definitely beyond "halfway done" now given the existing fruit set. (I've been freezing them after picking. They don't keep long and their eventual destination will be in cooked food items so they're OK to freeze.)

I checked at Weis and they did not have black raspberries. Wegman's does and while it's A Drive to the Wegman's in State College, I could get there if I had to do so. Black raspberries at the Wegman's is 12 oz for $6.49. So, I have picked about sixty dollars worth of black raspberries thus far this year. Go me. It'll probably be a hundred bucks by the time I'm done. We shall see. Watch this space!

( In other news, my daylilies had like a hundred buds and now they're blooming. )

It poured rain this afternoon. I did get the black raspberries picked (714 grams) before the rain came pouring like an avalanche coming down the mountain.

( Rain, rain, desperately needed but maybe slower next time? )

I did about an hour and a half of road work with Bird last night. It was kind of damp and humid and I was kind of *meh* on the whole thing so I decided to go the bareback pad route. (A bareback pad is just a thick wool-n-suede pad with a girth, no stirrups or anything.) I figured it'd be fine.

( And was it fine? )