my roots

Nothing says summer to me more the fresh picked strawberries. They are among the first fruit to arrive in summer and their robust and vibrant color make them appeasing to the eye.

I have been making homemade strawberry jam for the last 6-7 years. It started one day in my kitchen when I was pregnant with my son. I craved peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every single day and I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich everyday, sometimes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

As I got farther along, as most mothers will tell you. There comes a paradigm shift in your life when you connect with your baby and the world. I started to really think about what I was putting into my body. My baby was going to end up eating it after all. I wanted more of a connection with my food. I wanted to know where it came from and what was in it. I started reading labels and checking ingredients. Mostly everything had a lot of sugar and ingredients I couldn’t name. Was this stuff good for me? Is it good enough for my baby?

I decided that it couldn't be that hard, I could make my own. Then I would know for sure what was in it, where it came from. I picked all the strawberries from a local farm, I came home and cleaned them and gathered all my supplies and the adventure began.

I made 12 jars or fresh, delicious strawberry jam. My husband and I could not stop eating it. It was so good, we would eat it with a spoon right out of the jar.  

I have been making jam ever since that summer.

Last year, I made a few batches of our favorite flavors of strawberry jam. I love strawberry mango and my husband really loves strawberry banana. I had a couple extra jars and decided that since I always received such great feed back when I handed them out as gifts that I would put it out on Facebook and try to sell some of my homemade jam. I was pleasantly surprised how quickly I sold them all!

I sold out of every jar of jam I made. It started with the first three dozen strawberry jams , but I had such a demand, that I made three dozen more batches of a of each flavor and they were gone! Gobbled up with people asking for more, but the season was coming to an end and strawberries were no longer seasonal. I loved making jam so much and I was now seeing myself starting to grow in this new business. I didn’t want to stop there. So I made blueberry jam, and then blackberry jam, and then I made peach and sugar plum jam. I pickled vegetables and roasted peppers and smashed tomatoes for salsa.

The thing is, I love it!

The idea of making Happy Jammer a business began in June 2017. I am a small business in the making. I had no idea that my hobby would ever be more than just a hobby, or that it would help support itself. I jam, I sell, I make more jam. to continue to make Jam to share. This year 2018 I’m adding more goodies to this list and I’m expanding. I’m working on obtaining my LLC and learning all the cottage food laws for my state. I’m making labels and menus and order forms.

I have started an Instagram and Facebook Page dedicated to Happy Jammer. I also have a blog @littlesuzyjammer.wordpress.com of journal entries to document and share my journey canning and gardening. Find me on these other platforms; I share recipes, canning tricks, gardening tips, eco-friendly advice and much more.

I look forward to sharing these experiences with you. We can all learn to grow in places we never thought we could before.

UPDATE*

There is a lot of exciting things happening for Happy Jammer this new 2021 year! I filed for my LLC, booked three vendor events for the summer 2021 and finished my website! I always wanted to be my own business owner. No matter what the dream is, its never to late to reach for them.

Peace, Love and Happiness

I appreciate you all so berry much!

Happy Jammer