Raspberry Heaven

My 16-year-old pondering the mysteries of the raspberry

After many years of trying to grow raspberries, this year we hit the jackpot. We're getting tons of raspberries and we might even be getting sick of them--especially picking them! We have a couple of different varieties and the most prolific produces fairly small berries so it can take a while to pick them.

Today's harvest--we have to pick almost every day to stay on top of it.

To freeze them, I spread them on a cookie sheet on wax paper and stick them in the freezer for a few days.

Then I put them in a Ziploc bag and put them back in.

We eat some of them but mostly I freeze them and make jam. Raspberry trifle is an especially delicious dessert and I might try homemade raspberry ice cream sometime soon. I don't remember having them when I was growing up so I don't love the fresh raspberry taste as much as some people do. Lots of sugar helps. We also do smoothies. My husband grew up in Washington state where they consider raspberry bushes to be weeds. I think all that rain makes them kind of invasive. I don't know why our bushes are so prolific this year--maybe we're giving them more water. But we'll enjoy them all year long.

Freezer jam is really popular at our house and we go through a lot of it--it's hard to have enough freezer space for all of it.

Comments

Visiting Susquehanna: The Priesthood Restoration Site

On our way home from Palmyra, we decided to go a couple of hours out of our way to visit the recently opened Priesthood Restoration Site along the Susquehanna River. This is where we believe that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery received the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist which gave them the authority to baptize. This site also has the restored Isaac and Elizabeth Hale home where Joseph and Emma lived for a year as well as the home where Joseph and Emma lived on their own. We spent a couple of hours there and I wouldn't have minded a few more minutes but we had a long way to go that night. It's a beautiful setting, very much in rural Pennsylvania. However, on the day we were there, cars at a racetrack nearby were detracting from the peace and quiet. I'm guessing that's not as big of a problem on weekdays. The Hale Family was quite well-off for their day so their home was probably nicely decorated with wallpaper and carpet. ...

Nauvoo Pageant!

I have been a negligent blogger this last month. My reason is that we have been super busy. At the end of July, we went to the Nauvoo Pageant. We were able to participate once again in the Gold Cast like we did in 2007 and 2014. We picked up our daughter at the end of her cross country camp in Price, Utah on our way out of town. Then we drove to our friends' house in Golden, Colorado near Denver to stay the night. It was fun to reconnect if only briefly. The next night we were in Lawrence, Kansas, visiting my brother and sister-in-law and their family. That was also fun but short. We left the next morning, attending nearby church before taking off. We arrived in Nauvoo around 4pm with just enough time to have dinner at our cabin before going to our orientation at the pageant building. The next day we went to the pageant building to get our costumes and to learn how to do our hair in the 1840 styles. ...

Hansen Family Reunion 2026, Wednesday and Thursday

We had another Hansen Family Reunion at Bear Lake! In total, there were 93 of us there with 11 missing--our biggest yet! We enjoyed seeing everyone and catching up a little bit. Here are some pictures. My goal was to get a picture of everyone, so if you don't see a picture of yourself, keep scrolling. Also, more individuals coming on the post for Friday. Sorry for the weird angles on some of them. Michelle made dinner the first night, chicken and vegetables with Michelle's specialty--lots of sides and plenty of leftovers. After dinner and clean-up, we had a FHE lesson outside on the lawn with Melanie in charge of the lesson after a few raucous songs. The newest addition to the family, #103. On Thursday morning, Kent and Melanie chaired breakfast with eggs and sausage and plenty for everyone. The cook with his breakfast sandwich: After breakfast, some of the group went rock-climbing, courtesy of Everett, David, and Susanna while more people went on a hike--the Limber Pine Hike....

Search This Blog