23 pounds of blueberries!

23 pounds of blueberries!

• 8.15.2010

I went berry picking again.  I think this was my fifth time this summer, and I'm not slowing down yet!  I still want to pick some blackberries at this natural area outside of my friend's town, and I want to find a place to pick peaches while they're ripe so I can slice and freeze them and use them for smoothies later!
Yesterday I went blueberry picking with my fiancé and his siblings.  Together, we picked 23 pounds of blueberries!  In less than an hour and a half.  They were 0.99 cents/lb--I called around the local farms to find a good price, and these are no-spray.  It is so fast and easy to pick blueberries compared to other berries, and it is so much cleaner and less painful!  No thorns, no mushy berries that get all over your hands, easy to cup your hand under a cluster and pull them off with your thumb.  And you don't have to bend over much unless you want to get the low-hanging berries.
Here's the lovely "Blueberry Valley" at the farm we went to.

We got there in the morning, so for the first hour or so we were in rows shaded by the big trees and it was almost chilly!

Here are the berry-pickers (we have nearly matching cars):

So I thought I'd do a little how-to on freezing blueberries, which is pretty much the same as freezing raspberries but easier!  Since you may be wondering what I did with all my 23 pounds of blueberries...

1. Dump blueberries out onto a cookie sheet.  Sort out the little leaves, stems, wrinkled berries, etc.
2. Freeze on cookie sheets for a long time--they freeze unevenly, so even after overnight some of mine aren't totally frozen.  But, get most of them frozen.
3. Dump into containers or freezer bags and store for months!  Fresh smoothie ingredients into the winter months.

I love summer!

Hope you are having a good weekend--have you done any great summery activities in this August heat?