It’s Hard To Be Blue When I’m With You

When have been knee deep in all the berry picking around here. Strawberry picking a few weeks ago and blueberry picking last weekend. I’m not complaining though, we love fresh fruit and there is something so special about being able to get out there in the summer and pick your own.

We’ve been going to the same farm for the past two years and really enjoyed being there. It’s so fun looking back at our memories from last year and the year before. Gosh, the boys were so tiny then. This year, we pulled up to our regular spot and there were no cars in the parking lot, at all. My sister and I turned to my dad and said, ummm did you call and find out if they were picking? He said he called a few days ago and the season had just started. So crazy because they had a sign that said half of their bushes were picked over and the others weren’t ready quite yet. We had our truck packed with 7 people all anxious to pick some blueberries so we did the next best thing and jumped on google to find another farm. Since Hammonton is considered the blueberry capital of the world, it wasn’t hard finding another place. Actually, a mile up the road was all it took.

We all unloaded out of the explorer, my sister and I hopping over the back seat because having car seats in there makes things even more interesting—but we all made it out. The standard at this farm was paying $20 for 12 pints of blueberries whether you picked that many or not. It worked out for us because there were several of us, but I could see if it was just Eric and I, it probably would have taken us awhile to fill all of them up.

The boys had fun acting silly running in between the bushes and you know they also had to get some tasting in. It was too funny when little nugget bit into a green one and made a face of disgust. I guess in a sea of blue, a green berry stood out and his curiosity got the best of him. We told him those still needed to grow and not to eat them. I think he quickly got the hang of it.

A started being real goofy for a minute and was kind of in this mood. We asked him what was going on and he was upset that his pint wasn’t filling up as much as the others. We told him that he needed to keep picking and if he went for the bigger ones they would take up more room. They’re usually more ripe too and best for eating, but filling up his container would take time. He finally snapped out of his, it’s not all about me moment, and started to lighten up a bit. That’s the funny thing with kids, you really never know what their mood will be like.

Eric is really great at making A laugh or getting him to think about things differently. We’re still working on him not always needing to be the center of attention. Eric told him to throw some blueberries up in the air and try to catch them in his mouth. Well he thought that was just the coolest and of course it became a thing. Little nugget wanted to join in on the fun too, but before we knew it, there were more blueberries landing on the ground than anyone’s mouth. We got the idea to have them stand with their mouths open and we would drop them in. I was cracking up because they looked like little birds waiting to be fed.

Even after that, little nugget went around and kept plopping berries into my sister’s mouth. In fact, that might have been the highlight of their day.

Somehow we ended up with taking six pints home out of the twelve and my dad and my sister both took home three. I could only balance carrying four at a time and at one point I could barely manage that. The last thing I wanted to do was have them spill all over the sandy soil.

It’s always nice to spend time as a family and be able to create some fun memories. We also found out that peach season will be coming up in August, so I have to put that on my calendar to remember to go. We love making grilled peaches in the summer. For now, we’ve been enjoying our blueberries in our cereal, salads, snacking on them, and in muffins. The boys even suggested blueberry pancakes one night for dinner, so we all enjoyed that too. I love a good breakfast for dinner every now and then.