Gone Picking

I did something for the first time in my life a few weeks ago - I went blueberry picking. Typically my idea of blueberry picking (or apple picking for that matter) is to head down to my nearest supermarket and pick through the cartons of fruit on display. Being able to pick the blueberries from each bush myself was a completely new experience for me. I suppose this is one of the benefits of living in New England, but I didn't even know what I was missing.

It definitely wasn't my idea to go blueberry picking either. My mother-in-law has been waiting her whole life for her grandkids to be old enough to take them blueberry picking. It's something that she enjoys doing and wanted to share with her grandkids. I couldn't deny her of her greatest wish in life!

I'm the type of person who has to get ready for everything. It may just be a trip to the mall or to the corner store, but I have to bring what I think I may need with me. That includes sippy cups, extra kids clothes, a travel potty, sunblock, snacks, band-aids, hats, blankets just to name a few things. So, getting ready to go blueberry picking was a huge and monumental task. Since I had never gone, I didn't know exactly what I would need so I pretty much brought everything.

We had to drive to the grandparents house first, which is an hour away, so I also needed to bring with me the things I needed for their house - slippers, toys, camera... I was ready to go back to sleep by the time I loaded up the car with all this stuff.

The weather was perfect and after picking up my mother-in-law, we headed over to the farm. Here is a photo of what the blueberries fields looked like. You can see my two little "blueberries" picking to their hearts content down the row.




Here is what the blueberries looked like on the bush. They were so ready for picking that when you just cupped your hand underneath them, they fell out right into them.

From the minute the twins started picking, they were like pros. I joked with my husband that they had their grandmother's blueberry picking gene because it certainly didn't come from me! They were very serious pickers too - they personally sorted out the ones that were unripe or overripe so that when it came time to dump them into grandma's larger container she didn't have to pick through them again. Here are the two of them in their "blueberry picking trance."

So, maybe now you are wondering what's the difference between store bought and self-picked blueberries. I wouldn't have known the difference before I had gone blueberry picking either. Here is a photo that shows you why self picked blueberries are better. The two huge berries were from a bush and the smaller one in the middle was from a store.


And, finally here is what I did with the berries. Everyone who knows me in "real life" knows that I am neither a baker or a cook, but these are some muffins I made with the blueberries. I call them my famous "Upside Down Muffins" the secret is to accidently flip them over when taking them out of the oven and have them land this way.

What about you? Have you ever gone blueberry picking? Share your story in the comments section - I'd love to hear from you.