Blueberry Picking: A Lesson In Life

In my family, we have a tradition of going blueberry picking every summer. As soon as the fresh blueberries start arriving in the store, I start dreaming about fresh blueberries.  This summer, after a few weeks of extreme heat, and then extreme rain and then a cold spell, we finally had our day to go picking in late July.  Lucky for us, we got a fair amount of blueberries. I picked almost 5 pounds, despite the challenging picking conditions.  Last year, we picked pounds and pounds of blueberries.  They were practically falling off the bush into our pails.  Sadly, this year, because of the weather late spring and early summer with extreme heat offset by extreme cold, the conditions for picking were not as good.  There were lots of blueberries... but not all were ripe and many were small.  In short, we had to pick around to find the best berries...you know, the fat, plump, juicy, really blue blueberries.  Blueberry picking is a longstanding family tradition.  My grandfather used to pick as a little boy.  My mother picked them as a little girl.  And, the tradition continues with me.  

At some point my mom decided that the only time she would buy blueberries was when we picked them ourselves.  I guess that it was her way of teaching us that food doesn't grow in super markets.   Kids these days think that food comes from supermarkets. The only thing my mom grows are the geraniums that die days after we buy them from the store, despite our best efforts to grow them. We really do try to grow them, but we sometimes forget to water them and when we do realize that we have not watered them for 1 week, we then compensate by over watering them. Lets just say we are no gardeners.  However, blueberry picking is something we can do.  

A few years ago, she decided to teach us the value of a blueberry and told us we had to pick enough blueberries to last us the whole year. (She would freeze them for us.) That year, we picked only enough blueberries to last us to November. It was crushing to realize that we would have to wait until June for more fresh native blueberries.  The following year we headed back to the field with a new purpose.  After each picking, my mom stores them in freezer bags with our names, saying, "you eat what you pick"  Last year, we picked enough blueberries to last us until the following June! 

We adore the blueberries that we pick. They are sacred in my family.  Not only are they delicious fresh fruit, but they are also great in desserts. Some desserts that we enjoy with the blueberries are blueberry cobbler, blueberry muffins, blueberry smoothies, blueberry pancakes, blueberry pie, and the best of all, blueberries on warm oatmeal on a cold winter day.  For  me, blueberry picking is a symbol of summer. Sometimes the blueberries get me through the cold, long New England winter...dreaming of summer. 

Fresh blueberries are the best!