Dear Tracy, 

I’ve been thinking a lot on the themes of “best summer ever” and “self care” as the summer slowly slides into fall. 

As a kid, my mom would drag me back to her home town in the middle of nowhere Appalachia to experience a country summer. Summer days of riding bikes, picking blackberries, hiding in the apple orchard, being told don’t come back in until the street lamps come on, canning peppers, and soaking in the sunshine. 

One of the best parts of summer is the abundance of fruit in season. 

Strawberries are sweeter. Blueberries are bigger. Blackberries are sweeter. Peaches are the juiciest. 

One of the best parts of winter was my mom’s blueberry pancakes with summer berries she froze for that moment or my grandmother’s strawberry jam over fresh biscuits as I watched the snow come down in our Michigan home. If I want to give those same memories to my son, that means making jam now. 

It’s really a two-for-one activity. The best of summer fruits preserved in a fun summer afternoon with the tiny human -and- the self care of jam on scones in the months to come? Sign me up!