Zen and the Art of Blueberry Picking

Yesterday we spent three hours picking 3 gallons of blueberries--an hour a gallon, I guess. We went to a local u-pick farm, Grayson's Berryland in Clearwater. The berries are yummy! The photos were taken by Rose; we've decided she's an excellent photographer, don't you think?

When I think of Zen, I think of Elijah in a blueberry patch. When we went last year, for the first time, Eli spent most of the time sitting cross-legged in the grass "shining up" each blueberry he picked and then popping it in his mouth. Needless to say, not much of his berries either last year of this year ended up in his pint basket. But that's okay...Elijah remembered last year's experience well. As we drove up to the farm, he announced that "if you rub a blueberry it gets shiny. And the little ones are sweeter. And if they have a slightly pinkish tinge they're still sour." Precious advice from an 11-year old. I call him my not-so-little-anymore teddy bear cub. The bears love blueberries, just like Eli!Here is George. He and I each picked two flats full of berries (6 pints each). Mine were bluer. George's had more "pinkish tinged" ones. You see, he is quite color blind so this is a bit more of a challenge for him. Same with picking strawberries. I chastise him, but not too much because I know he's got a bit of a handicap. The "pinkish tinged" ones are still okay in the mix.Here are the kids (I took this photo, obviously). Being "silly and stubborn" as they said, refusing to pick berries the WHOLE day. Well, that's okay. They each pitched in and helped quite a lot. They don't have the stamina of farm kids, that's for sure. They also don't have quite the drive for fresh local food to put up, as George and I do. But still, they were there. They know what a blueberry bush looks like. They know what fresh ripe-picked blueberries taste like.

I overheard one citified middle-aged woman who had escorted an elderly gentleman to the blueberry patch at his request say "I've never even seen a blueberry bush before". I wasn't surprised, but I laughed a little to myself and thought, well at least my kids can't say that.

For three hours worth of picking and several hours' more work at home, we got 16 quart-size zip-locs filled with blueberries for the freezer. This should last us at least four months if we eat one bag a week. We also are eating some fresh, and I'm trying to dry some in the dehydrator. My drying foods book said to split the skins by blanching them in boiling water for 30 seconds. Well, this totally cooked the berries and turned them to mush, but I put the mush on a couple of drying trays and they are drying up a bit like raisins. I did a couple more trays of un-blanched berries on which I made a slight knife mark just to "split the skins". I'll see how that works. My front porch, where the dehydrator sits, does smell like blueberry pie. Yum!