Yesterday morning I flew out of bed, made an iced coffee, zoomed to the gas station, hopped in my car, and headed east. I knew blueberries were almost done for the year, and darn it if I wasn’t going to pick some for the first time!
It was already 87* at 10 a.m. when I showed up at the Blueberry Fields of Stillwater in my long blue skirt, indigo-painted toes, and a brand-new floppy brown hat.
Bev and Mike greeted me warmly from the delicious shade of their canopy. “I’ve never picked blueberries before,” I confessed.
“Well, you look like you’re all ready to pick them!” Bev remarked. “Even down to your toes.”
I smiled.
She grabbed a few buckets, guided me a row of short bushes, and sat down, inviting me to join her.
“The thing about blueberries,” she said, suddenly taking on the teacher voice I so often use myself, “is that they just roll right off the vine. You need to keep one hand underneath as you’re picking, or you’ll hear a ‘ker-plop’ as they fall to the ground.”
After a few more words of wisdom, she left me to my task. Just over an hour later, I’d drank an entire bottle of cold water and picked nearly five pounds of berries. The cash in my wallet was exactly the right amount to pay for what I’d picked ($15, for you curious ones).
I got home and set out to make jam, salsa, and a galette. Two outta three ain’t bad.
Blueberry Salsa
Vegan // Makes about 2 cups
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 jalepeno
1 cucumber
1/3 cup red onion
Lime juice
Fresh cilantro
Smash blueberries in a bowl with a fork. Finely dice jalepeno. Finely chop cucumber. Dice red onion. Chop or tear cilantro (as much or as little as you’d like).
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and add a splash of lime juice. Keep in an airtight container in your refridgerator (I put mine in a small canning jar).
Try this atop a grilled veggie or portabella quesadilla, with tortilla chips, or on a baked potato with cheddar or feta!
Ta-da! Hope you’re enjoying the harvest this week.
Best Of
4 Comments
Your photos are gorgeous, and I could eat blueberries by the handful straight from the bush.
Not sure I’m going to get around to picking this year; I’ve gone many years in a row but lately haven’t been able to make the time. I should do something about that.
We picked gobs of blueberries last weekend and I still have a couple of pounds left. I was going to make some baby food but I think I might have to try this recipe instead! Love it! I made and canned jam, too – *tons* of it. So, so, so good.
Love blueberries, and your blog too.
Love this story, reminds me of picking strawberries with my parents as a kid. We’d eat yogurt, granola and fresh strawberries and I thought it was the BEST thing on the planet!
I recently tried this recipe and I loved it! I was inspired due to an abundance of cucumber in my garden (first timer on the vegetable garden!). This recipe now resides in my recipe box for many future batches.