Oversharing in a blueberry patch and other faux paus of blueberry picking

"There's so many big ones on the ground." In horror I watched a man in the aisle beyond us was stooping on the ground picking the birds leftover berries. I, being an incorrigible smart ass, loudly told my sister and mom that I hear all of the good ones are on the ground. My sister was horrified, knowing a lesson many of the people picking berries this morning did not know. Blueberry bushes are hardly soundproof.

We were in a rather thick patch of blueberries this morning. It might easily have been assumed that you could tell your blueberry picking buddy all about how you tend to eat food off of the ground that people step on and birds poo on, but in reality a veteran blueberry picker standing 3 aisles away will hear that comment and quite possibly snicker or put it in their blog. Either way oversharing in a blueberry patch is probably a bad idea. Maybe one day they will come up with soundproof bushes, but until then, remember, saying "it's been a while since me and grandma were in the bushes together," will be heard by more than just your fellow pickers.

I don't know how many of you have picked blueberries in the Mid-Atlantic region of the country. Picking down here is very different than in Maine where blueberry picking is done from bushes that are maybe a foot off the ground. Jersey and Pennsylvania berries grow in tall bushes that can become unruly sometimes. The bushes today were beyond unruly. If you were claustrophobic, you shouldn't have been picking at Schmidt's Berry Farm. As you can see from some of the pictures, we were pretty much buried in the bushes.

At the berry farm (doesn't that just sound like the happiest place on earth - the berry farm) my family goes to every year there is a system that each picker must adhere to. Everyone is given a row. You pick the row. You're supposed to pick every berry on the row, which is why I go first and my mom can pick the ones I miss. If you see scads of berries in another row you are not, I repeat are not supposed to skip over to that row and start hopping rows. Row hopping, while it sounds like a brilliant plan full of the best berries, is actually a surefire way to make another picker who is trying to follow the rules miss the good berries in their row. You may think that is their problem, but kharma is a terrible thing and your day will come. Pick your own berries and good fortune will come to you, or something like that.

We picked a lot of berries, as you can see from the pictures. It really was a ton of fun, and now we are going to bake a blueberry pie and freeze some of the berries so that in the middle of winter we can enjoy their fresh taste of summer.

I'm not sure when all of your seasons are, but I hope you are taking advantage of the fresh produce that is coming in and that you are taking the time to actually pick your own. The work makes the reward so much tastier. I'm pulling out my blueberry pie recipe tonight, so I will post that and the chocolate chip zucchini bread tomorrow.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily