It’s that time of year again — blueberry season. Hard to believe, but it’s been three years since we picked blueberries at Huckleberry Hollow!
Two years ago, I looked like this, and I was feeling grumpy, tired, and not at all like being out in the heat for hours picking blueberries. My MIL and a good family friend generously volunteered to pick for us that summer.
Last year, we didn’t have the option of figuring out the logistics of picking blueberries with an infant because H-Hollow lost their entire crop due to weather conditions. Yep, zero blueberries.
This year, the blueberries were back, and with Sir in childcare, I made a blueberry picking date with my MIL.
As I mentioned three years ago, this place has some huuuge blueberry bushes, which provide some partial shade for picking. The bits of shade helped, but by mid-morning it was still scorching! Why can’t blueberries ripen at a cooler time of year???
We arrived at nine in the morning and left at one, which meant just over three-and-a-half hours of picking, plus a much-needed twenty minute refuel and rehydrate break.
Between the two of us, we picked almost six-and-a-half gallons of blueberries in that time. We’ll be enjoying them fresh for the next few days, and the remainder (i.e., the bulk) are in the freezer.
While I didn’t brave blueberry picking with a toddler in tow (heck, I have yet to take him on a Whole Foods/Trader Joe’s run — I’m definitely not ready for blueberry picking!), I look forward to having him along in future years. The trick to that will be making sure he puts more blueberries in the bucket than in his mouth, lest he meet an end like that of Violet in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Her Green Life 
That’s it! I’m going to pick berries next week. Thanks for the motivation. Also, completely unrelated, we went on a pajama picnic this morning. Thanks for the idea! It was awesome!
Yay for the pajama picnic!
So lovely. I am getting up early tomorrow to drive about 45 minutes away to pick raspberries. I hope we are able to get bucketfuls as well!
Hope the raspberry picking goes well. We are lucky to have those at my MIL’s — blueberries are one of the only berries we aren’t growing!
ha! had to laugh at your comment about how you haven’t even taken the toddler on a Whole Foods/TJ’s run….same here! 🙂 it’s like you really have to concentrate when you’re there, and toddlers in carts just don’t always allow that. You’ve made me want to pick blueberries; i don’t think there’s any very close to us (that farm we went to the other week does raspberries, but sadly, no blueberries) but i’m going to research. We only have a week before vacation anyway, so we may miss them this year. it’s my favorite berry to pick; great memories from childhood of a freezer-full of fresh berries…so many buckets! 🙂
Yes, especially with buying many things from the bulk bins at WF, those shopping trips feel crazy enough when it’s just me. Glad I’m not the only one!
Oh, and the place we picked is not particularly close (not in my book anyway). It’s a fifty- to sixty-minute drive (out I-44, a decent ways past Eureka), part of why we stayed out in the heat and pushed ourselves a bit to get all we wanted for the year instead of making a return trip.
way to type my name up there. *whoops, early* 🙂