Since the boys were toddlers, I’ve gone with my mom and my dear friend Janine and her girls to pick blueberries and then back to my house to bake muffins and pies with the berries and then bacon and tomato sandwiches for lunch with fresh home-grown tomatoes. Over the years friends and neighbors and their kids have joined us.  For the last 3 or 4 years we haven’t gone, I guess life has just gotten in the way. Such sweetness, gathering these pictures and remembering these wonderful mornings each summer. Easy to find them in photo albums but once I went digital they are on an old computer in a closet. So sad. We made plans and went early before the sun peeked over the mountain onto the blueberry patch. I love this time because the dew is still on the berries and it’s still cool and quiet. 

I looked forward to picking berries and enjoyed reminiscing of past trips. I thought of taking Drew for the first time, before Chad was born, and watching him cautiously, of Janine and I the next summer pushing umbrella strollers out with 3 month olds, and I nursed Chad while sitting on an overturned berry bucket between the rows of blueberry bushes and watched the kids pick. We would pack cold cokes in the car to enjoy after the picking. My mom recalled the year a family was singing while picking. Everyone picking is tucked away on their own row so no one really sees other pickers but after they were finished everyone all around the patch applauded. Sweet memories. I thought about the friends and neighbors that have come with us over the years and how they each have touched our lives and been a blessing to my family.

The teenagers were all excited about going picking this year. Thinking about past memories, what did the boys remember? They remembered the time they got in trouble for throwing berries!!!

My mom recalled that we made them go offer to pay for the berries with crumpled one dollar bills in their hands. The elderly couple that own the farm accepted their apology but would not take their money.

Chad remembered one year they sold honey sticks.

Too funny!

My favorite story, Drew, now 19 was feeding my mom berries as she was picking. He must have been 4. She was enjoying the berries until one was obviously rotten and she spit it out. She asked Drew where he had been getting the berries and he had been picking them up off the ground! Only a grandmother!

This year no berries were thrown or rotten berries eaten or babies nursed in the rows. But the boys annual quest to find the biggest berry continued. They are great at finding the big ones too. The girls (used loosely) wander from bush to bush tasting the berries and visiting with each other as we drop berries in our buckets first making a dull plunk sound but quickly that sound is silenced as the bottom of our bucket is covered with plump berries. It’s a peaceful time. 

Our buckets of berries picked in a little over an hour. Bret’s berries look like he licked them all! On the way home Bret, my nephew, said what am I suppose to do with all the berries in my pocket?

Just like a 13-year-old boy.

Comparing to see who had the biggest berries.

 This year I made this recipe for muffins and they were awesome! They had a nice strudel topping and were light and tasty. Click here for the recipe.  Blueberry Muffins Recipe

Blueberries are very healthy for you as well. Maybe not in Muffins but there are many healthy ways to enjoy them. This article by Helen Sanders points out ALL the good that these little berries pack. Makes me hungry just looking at her pictures!

If you are in Huntsville, we pick at MaryMac Farm on Dug HIll. I hope you can pick blueberries wherever you are and bring along your friends and family. They stay in the freezer for a year, if they last that long. And memories, last much much longer.

Katey