Yummy Blackberry Jam

As you know, My little Princess loves the help out in any way she can. When Chelsea heard Papa and Grandma were going to pick blackberries she jumped right up in her car seat and away we went. She grabbed her own bucket and stayed right with us the entire time. Of course, her routine was to pick one berry and then eat one. I must say, I was surprized at how well she did. Watch out fellow berry pickers, I think she is going to be a die hard picker like her Grandma.
Now, I took a vote, with myself of course, decided that it is much more fun to go pick the berries than it is to clean them when you get home and do something with them. For blackberries I pretty much just make jam, not sure they would freeze up as nice as the huckleberries.
As soon as Chelsea saw what I was doing when I was making the jam she was right there in the middle of it all. I was a little nervous believe it or not, with her in there helping me. I had berries cooking, and they get very HOT, and I had the water boiling to cook the jars in once they were filled with jam. I have one arm that can barely lift the jars into the hot water, and as you can see I now have a chair in the middle of my workspace with a helper standing on it.
Well, what is a Grandma to do? I stripped her down so we wouldn't ruin her clothes if we got berries on them, which was very good thinking if you could of seen the mess we had when we were done.

Chelsea's job was to measure the berries into the processor, wait for Grandma to put the lid on it and then push the "pulse" button three times. My job was to try and stay one step ahead of her while I was stirring the boiling jam, washing then filling jars, processing them and transporting them from the boiling water to the table across the kitchen.

I am happy to report no one was injured (okay, I did burn my hand in a few places from boiling jam splattering), no one left in tears, just very exhausted but happy to have created one more memory together.

Together we canned 62-8oz jars of jam. I have no idea what in the world we are going to do with all that jam, and I haven't even started the huckleberries yet. Maybe tomorrow.