Is that a bear behind me, or just a skunk?

As I picked these with my boys, I felt like I was the Mom in Blueberries for Sal who lost her child, but didn’t know it, because a baby bear was behind her making noise. But no bear, and no skunk this time. (You never do really know what’s lurking around here at the lake.) I love this book, because it reminds me of simpler times, and it gives that sweet-reassuring message to the child that “everything is all right, Mommy’s here.” And it gives the same message to the Mom — Sal is alright!

But, I feel even luckier to have these. They are hard to come by this year. Many farmers explained to me that the blueberry farmers had sold their harvest to “foreign companies” who were drying them to sell. The going rate was between $24 and $27 for 10 pounds. A quart, at the farmer’s markets is $2.99. Like I said, I’m lucky to have the 8 pounds we have – safe in our freezer. They were $.55 per pound. Did I mention that I feel lucky?

I found this Blueberry Patch in a quaint Amish village — and they were selling them for $.55 per pound. And we fought the beetles and the sun and the unripe blueberries to get the ones we have.

This little guy, with the blue eyes, ate every single blueberry he picked. His bucket was

empty. Later, he said, he hated blueberries. His plan was to eat them all so there wouldn’t be any more. I have no pictures of the kids picking – I was busy picking myself, and trying to pretend to look at each blueberry that they insisted that I look at because it was SOOOO HUGE. The whole time we were picking, Aunt Joyce kept saying, “We’re going to sell this country right out from under us…” She made me nervous. Is she right?

The u-pick farms are good for your kids — especially in this, “I picked these strawberries myself at the supermarket” culture. All winter long, you pull handful after handful out of the freezer. More benefits to blueberries, here.

You can find a national link to Pick Your Own Farms here. But many of the smaller farms (that have the best bargains) do not promote themselves. Check your county extension office, or do a search by state or country for pick your own fruit and vegetables. Here are links to the UK and Canadian pick your own fruit and vegetable sites. Or just get in the car with your kids, and drive through the countryside.

Oh, and what do we do with the blueberries? It’s a tradition here at our house to have blueberry pancakes every Saturday morning. Dad makes them. Here’s the recipe for blueberry cornmeal pancakes.

More lake house posts,

here

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