| First of all you have to have a bucket. You will soon | | | | full as a tick on a hound dog's ear. |
| want to have a few with you as the berries are so | | | | The cool of the evening is another good time to pick, |
| good that you never get enough, especially when | | | | when the sun has had the entire day to nourish the |
| you start freezing them, cooking them for jams and | | | | leaves and push that good juice into the berry. I love |
| sauces or, my favorite, putting them in the blender | | | | the feel of the cool air and the warmth of the sun |
| with various things for a morning liquid breakfast and | | | | burned soil coming up in my face, when I pick berries |
| treat. Anyway, even if your first intention is to just | | | | in the cool, late, afternoon or early evening! |
| get enough for your breakfast cereal, you will likely | | | | Personally, I am not a middle-of-the-hot-sunny-day |
| get carried away and want more and more and | | | | picker. Some like it hot. I don't. There is something |
| more. We all do! | | | | special about having a couple of full pails of |
| There are all sorts of bucket carry methods. Some | | | | blueberries beside me as I travel home in my vehicle |
| have replaced the bail of the pail with a strap and | | | | at sunset. |
| hooks so they can sling it around their neck, over | | | | Blueberries are a delight to pick, at Ryan's Blueberry |
| their shoulder or even around their waist. You can | | | | Farm, as they are tended in rows with good walking |
| get an adjustable luggage strap, with a heavy | | | | spaces in-between. The thorns are not a problem like |
| shoulder pad and non-slip grip, from the luggage | | | | they are on other berries, or some of the wild |
| store. It already has the end hooks, which can be | | | | berries at the edge of fields and woods. At Ryan's I |
| attached to the pail, and such a strap can be had | | | | can wear a T-shirt, shorts and even sandals if I want. |
| about twelve bucks. Just take off the bail and figure | | | | As I am not a heat of the day picker, I don't need |
| a way to attach the hooks to the pail. You can | | | | the big straw hat. If you pick middle of the day, to |
| experiment with all sorts of carry arrangements. | | | | do your berry harvesting, bring a big cool hat and |
| Some of the old-timers, like my Pop Pop, used to | | | | sunscreen. |
| lace their belt through the pail and just let it hang as | | | | Some of my favorite times have been when I've |
| they walked around each bush and picked until it was | | | | picked with children or a friend. I have a bad back so |
| full. He had both hands free to pick that way. Who | | | | blueberries are nowhere near the trouble that |
| would ever want to pick with only one hand? That's | | | | strawberries are! What a relief that is! Still, for berry |
| way too slow! When I was younger I hung the | | | | picking, I like to bring my lightweight folding stool or |
| bucket around by neck on a big soft rope. Now I use | | | | chair. Nearly weightless folding stools and chairs are |
| the luggage strap method and change it around all | | | | available at K-Mart, WallMart or outdoors stores like |
| the time for comfort and utility. I think most people | | | | Sunny's Surplus. In the old days, lots of folks around |
| just hold and move the pail or slip one arm through it | | | | here used to bring the milking stools with them or |
| to the elbow, like you would carry a purse while | | | | even a folding card-table chair to move around the |
| paying the cashier. | | | | bushes with. They weighed a lot more than my |
| Most folks seem to look for those giant blueberries | | | | folding stool that I got from a hunting store where |
| (or any other berry they are picking) and often leave | | | | they sell them to the dove hunters. |
| all the small and ordinary ones. I like the ripest fruit | | | | As I am only interested in the ripest of the berries, I |
| the best, by far. I have been known to go to where | | | | only seek those that are deep, dark, and blue all |
| the bushes have already been picked a few days | | | | over. They aren't ripe till they are deepest blue. It's |
| earlier and get the ready-to-burst ripe berries. Some | | | | that deep blue that has all the miracle ingredients that |
| scientists say that a fruit is not fully nutritious until | | | | makes blueberries one of the healthiest foods on |
| the moment it is ready to fall to the ground as a | | | | earth! Let the immature blueberry-children grow -- |
| seed carrier. I am that way too. I prefer all my fruit | | | | leave the unripe ones to ripen is my motto. |
| when it is so ripe that I just touch it and it falls into | | | | Like all fruit that I'm aware of, the ripe berries are |
| my hands. The complex chemical changes in the plant | | | | ready to fall off the bush and the unripe ones need |
| that turn the fruit into a perfect food for the seed | | | | some pulling and tugging. When the kids are with me, |
| occur just before it falls to earth and that is when I | | | | I tell them that if the bush is moving much when |
| want it for my body's use. | | | | they pull the berries, the berries are not ripe. Sure, |
| I like the fruit plump, juicy and cool! I eat a LOT as I | | | | the unripe berries will get more blue if you set them |
| pick, so for me the very best time of the day to | | | | in the sunlight, even after you pick them. But, I doubt |
| pick is the cool of the early morning, as early as I can | | | | that they are getting all the same nutrients from just |
| arrange it. There is no better way to start the day | | | | the sun that they would be getting on the plant if |
| than picking blueberries in the field and having a belly | | | | they stayed there until they were done. The bush |
| full of fresh berries for breakfast. I just give the | | | | ripened ones seem to be a lot sweeter to me. |
| cashier more money to pay for all the berries I eat | | | | I look forward to being spoiled again this year, with |
| while picking. My favorite picking fantasy, and one | | | | fresh and nutritious berries from the farm. Those |
| I've luckily enjoyed a few times, is picking at sunrise | | | | ones in the store just don't make it for me, unless |
| in a heavy cool dew and staying at it 'till the warming | | | | that is all I can get. |
| sun has burned off the last of the wetness and I'm | | | | |