My Foray Into Jam-Making.

My Grandma makes the BEST raspberry jam EVER.  Every year each of us gets a jar of "Grandma Jam" and it is HOARDED for as long as possible.  (I didn't get one last year, and I just found out it's because Amy and Sterling STOLE IT!!!!!!!  And yes, I am bitter, thank you very much!)

Anyway, the boys (and when I refer to "the boys," I mean Erik and his roommate, Puddy, just for future reference) live on a farm with a hazelnut orchard, and along one whole side of the orchard are giant Oregon blackberry bushes with the biggest, most delicious blackberries you've ever seen.  Last summer we didn't do a very good job of taking advantage of this opportunity, so this year I've tried to be better about it.  I've picked berries just to eat several times, but I started thinking, since I have access to all these free berries, maybe I should just try making some blackberry jam.  So I ventured into the bushes for an hour or so and came out with several welts (I am TOTALLY allergic to blackberry thorns, so this really was a journey where I came out with more than a few battle wounds that turned into GIANT welts), and TONS of berries.  After a few phone calls to Dad and Grandma and a trip or two to the store, I ended up with this:

Success!!  Sixteen jars later, we have homemade blackberry jam.  

And you know what?  It's delicious.