Berries. Beautiful blueberries. Sweet, delicious berries.
We went blueberry picking on Saturday. The whole family. In the past, I have taken the kids and we would pick a bucket of berries. This year, all of us went to pick. Saturday was a perfect berry-picking day. It was not hot, although the sun was out and it was a clear day. The bugs and bees were not bothering us. In fact, I don’t recall seeing any bees!
Upon arrival, we stopped to gather buckets and containers. The adults got to carry buckets while the children got to wear yogurt containers strung on rope around their necks. The owner told us these containers were ideal as you can pick with both hands. Of course the kids wanted the
necklace buckets. Who wouldn’t? I wanted one but I had to carry a bucket. Containers in hand or around necks, we entered the blueberry patch. We started picking in an area that the owner directed us to start in. Ready, set, pick! We were off, plucking plump berries from the bushes and dropping them into our containers or, for some of us, popping them into our mouths! Yummy – just a nice treat to keep me motivated!
The four of us scattered among the bushes and went to work. We’d call everyone to gather if we found the mega-blueberry or if a container had to be dumped. After some pictures were taken by our budding photographer, the guys decided they wanted to roam and pick. Like the surroundings would change that much? So us ladies, went to the outer row and hit the jackpot. We picked and picked. Our daughter was on one side of the row; I was on the other. It was fun. We chatted, sang or just picked. It did not take us long to fill our bucket. As it neared the top, we ventured off to find the men. I could hear our son talking so we wandered, slowly, picking, eating, over to their area. After meeting at the end of the patch (no one really wanted to fight their way through the bushes) we headed to the hut to weigh-in.
Grand total almost 29 pounds of berries. Wow! I never would have thought we had picked that many. After bagging them up and carefully carrying them to the truck, we headed home.
I thought I saw blue at the patch. It took me a long time to wash, sort and pick stems off the berries but eventually we froze most of the blue harvest. In the middle of all the washing, sorting and filling of trays to freeze, I made a hot cup of tea, grabbed my KAF cookbook and browsed recipes using blueberries. I decided to make a blueberry pie. So berries still here, there and everywhere, I made my crust, rolled it out and then mixed up the berries and filled the pie plate. Topped it off with crust, and into the oven it went. As it baked, I finished washing and freezing the berries. I kept some fresh as I planned to make blueberry pancakes for breakfast and to share some with my mom.
Here are some pictures that were taken on our wonderful blueberry picking adventure!
Next weekend, I plan to make blueberry rolls. They sound delicious!
