I Only Have Eyes for Blue

Anyone who has read my blog in previous years will know that I LOVE picking blueberries!

A likely spot, push aside those spruce branches to find the big ones!

So every time I was "out in the country" I was scoping out blueberry spots.  I discovered that "old woodcuts" (where residents had cut down trees in past years) were prime spots for blueberry growth so I was ready when they started ripening.  Now you know why I've been absent from the blog - too busy picking blueberries!

Spots are guarded around these parts, so you have to be choosy who you "share your spot" with.  I figured I could trust my sister-in-law at least, and we had a grand time filling up!

Blue here, blue there, blue everywhere

I must have gone out picking on at least six different days, and a few of those I even rode the Quad up to save my energy.  A couple of hours picking after a half hour walk up and then the extra weight of 2 gallons of berries on the walk back gets to be wearing!

I finally learned how to can!

Doing the math? I probaby picked 10 gallons total, but ate through some of those fresh before I got around to freezing 6 1/2 gallons and making a dozen jars of blueberry jam.

Jam by Pam

I even picked a gallon of raspberries and made cobbler twice...and then topped it off with blueberries of course!  When picking blueberries you have to watch out for the "black flies" but raspberry patches seemed to attract bees and large spiders set up their traps across the branches so a little more care was necessary.

My berry rake ended up being impractical for blueberries as it picked up leaves and other debris too easily, but partridgeberries were quicker to pick using a berry rake so I got about 4 gallons of those this week.  And I picked up a spare berry rake someone left out in a patch last year by the faded look of it!  Now if anyone wants to join me I even have an extra rake.

Partridgeberries and a blueberry!

Partridgeberries are the same as lingonberries, so if you've ever had lingonberry jam you know how delicious the tart berries can be with the right amount of sugar.  I've had no trouble finding the low growing red berries; they spread along the ground under blueberry bushes and especially seem to love old tree stumps and areas prone to reindeer lichen.

Picked clean - can you spot the lone blueberry?

Fall is upon us here in Newfoundland, and every day more of the plants are turning color.  Blueberry gathering is done, the ones left on the bush are mushy and bitter after some early frost.  So now my eyes turn to searching for the partridgeberry, the marshberry, and maybe even some cranberry if I can find them.  But I still have all those gallons of blue in the freezer -  just think of the jams, the pies, and the blueberry pancakes they will provide me until next September!