Blueberries!

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We went blueberry picking this weekend. One of my friends told me about this blueberry farm about 45 minutes away that had you-pick blueberries for $1 per pound. That's such a great price, and getting to pick them yourself! I knew it would be a lot of fun, so Heather and I brought the boys on Saturday. We got there around 9:45, and ended up picking for about three hours. We had never been to pick blueberries before, and were surprised at the way they grew. Blueberries grow on large bushes, averaging maybe 6-7 feet tall, in clusters kind of like grapes. To pick them, you just run your hand along the branch. The ripe ones will fall into your bucket, the unripe ones will stay on the bush to ripen.

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Colin and Brennan found another little boy, and the three of them played together for a time, drawing in the dirt with sticks, running around, and playing hide and seek in the blueberry bushes. Niko sat in the stroller for a good while, until he got hungry and wanted out. I held him for a bit while I continued to pick berries, and I'm not sure if a berry fell into my hand (the one that was holding him), or if he'd grabbed one off of the bush (this baby seriously has the best hand-eye coordination of any 6-month-old I've seen). In either case, I found him nom-ing a blueberry against my fingers. I fed him several blueberries that way, and he seemed to like them. He ended up with a diaper rash and spitting up the rest of the day, though. Today when I gave him a couple more blueberries, the spitting-up started almost immediately. Poor guy :( He just isn't ready for solid foods, yet.

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We took a break for a while when Colin and Brennan got tired, and ate peanut butter sandwiches by the car. And then we picked even more! When we finally finished, we had three pails full of blueberries, plus some Colin and Brennan had each picked in their pails.

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Colin ran ahead as we were bringing our blueberries to get weighed and pay. The man at the booth poured Colin's into a box and gave it to him, free. He had about a pound, maybe a little more. I was impressed he'd picked so many! Then he gave Brennan the little bucket he had with the (dozen?) blueberries in it, free. Bennan had eaten most of the blueberries he picked! It reminded me of a story I read to the boys last year, Blueberries for Sal.

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Heather and I gave our berries to the man, and he weighed them at about 18 pounds. We'd talked to him for a few minutes prior, and he'd seen the Marine Corps bumper stickers on our van. So he asked if we were military, and I told him my husband was a Marine. He said, "Okay, I'll give you a military discount. How does $5 sound?" He gave us 19 pounds of blueberries for $5! I was so excited! We thanked him, of course, and paid, and got all of the boys 'n' berries in the car. I gave Colin and Brennan a cup of berries to eat on the way home, but those poor guys fell asleep almost as soon as we started driving.

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After we got home, I sorted through the berries, and put them all in baggies. We filled 9 1/2 quart baggies! Most of them went into the freezer, but I left some out to munch on, and some to make blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Yum!

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