Aug 12

Aug 12 Blueberry Picking!

Yesterday Cheryl sent a text, on a glorious August morning: 'Want to go blueberry picking?' Of course... yes! She goes at least once a year, and for a myriad of reasons I can't explain — I don't. I've always wanted to, I love blueberries and we are big smoothie drinkers (of which these little anti-oxidant powerhouses are a must), so on her recommendation, I grabbed a hat and off we went.

Here in Charlotte we are truly blessed with an abundance of berry farms, and there is just no good excuse to not take advantage (other than that old chestnut, 'something else just seemed to get in the way'). Well, not today. Not on this Saturday morning after the humidity had finally broken and there was a merciful cloud cover. So, off we went to Pelkey's, a sweet olde-time farm spread out over dozens of lovely acres on Greenbush Road.

We grabbed our plastic bag lined buckets which they provided, complete with rope belt and we followed their instruction into the dense, lush patch. The bushes were tinged blue, so laden with ripe berries and the ground was covered with the wee gems as well. Families with backpacked infants, hand-holding seniors, methodical solo pickers and romping toddlers — it would seem blueberry picking is a one-size fits all endeavor. It was a perfect day and within an hour our buckets were heavy and full.

So now comes the hard part! I'll freeze some of course but, with company coming this weekend my mind is spinning with options... Nick loves the Sundance Salad, so I'll make that for him as part of our Porch Salad Supper and maybe a Lemon Blueberry Bread for breakfast and Afternoon Tea. But certainly for dessert there must be... Pie? Blueberry Upside Down Cake? Cobbler? Buckle? Slump? Galette?

Ah, well. There are worse problems then too many blueberries. Just down the road from us, there was a pop-up blackberry stand last year. How great is that? I think I stopped 5 times, I just couldn't get enough of these ridiculous berries. My favorite way to eat them? Over homemade ricotta with honey and roasted pistachios :)