Growing up in the south, you quickly learned the rule of living off the land: If you want to eat it, then you'd better go and pick it
As a child, living in the southern part of rural Virginia, we were farmers. We farmed just about everything and that which we didn't personally farm, which may trades with neighboring farmers. You had to work the land to enjoy its "fruits" and then, as children, we were often sent out to pick the items for dinner or dessert. Mom and Granny canned fruits and vegetables to last us through the winter. Daddy was the baker in our home and he and mom made delectable desserts from the many fruit trees we had. I grew up believing this was just how things were suppose to be and and boy, am I glad!
Moving to a more urban area, I longed to teach my daughter about the quality of fresh-picked produce and how the maximize the flavors. After a short visit to a nearby farm, we came home with 18lbs of fresh blackberries! We hadn't meant to pick that many...the picking was just that good. So after making several pies and eating our fill, there was nothing left to do but make jam. And thus, Momma Love
was born.
