Summer Blueberry Picking

We’ve had quite a few visitors at the lake this summer. One week in July, Andi’s mom, Janie, and his sister, Lindsay, came to the cabin to spend a few days with Tory, Aden and I. Janie is retired now and Lindsay has a semi-flexible work schedule so it was a fun treat having them there with us mid-week.

The weather happened to be rainy and cooler that week, so we had to find some other things to do besides lounging in the lake all day. One afternoon, I took Lindsay and Janie to the Country Lane Farmer’s Market in nearby Barron, Wisconsin and the next day, we picked blueberries at Rocky Ridge Farm in Frederick, WI. Andi and I randomly drove past this farm last summer and I made a mental note to add it to my bucket list of activities at the lake. Blueberry picking season is a short one, and we’d hit it just right for picking that day. Bonus! The cooler weather made it very comfortable to pick berries in the fields.

Janie and Lindsay had blueberry-picked before, but this was the first time for Tory, Aden and I. We arrived shortly after 10:00am that morning and had the entire place to ourselves. The friendly farmer’s wife gave us a few pails to carry and directed us to a few rows of Patriot blueberries. She instructed us to “tickle” the berries and they’d fall right off the branches.

Tory took her new job of Blueberry Picker very seriously, and quietly moved down the row filling her bucket. Aden has a wilder approach (surprise, surprise!) and tore down the dirt path like a wild man. Luckily, we were the only people there so he could be as loud as he wished.

 

Lindsay was on a mission to fill as many buckets as possible. Her husband, Kyle, was thrilled we’d decided to go berry picking and instructed her to bring back lots of fresh berries for freezing. Each adult collected two gallon-size pails in about an hour’s time (Tory and Aden’s berries were added to mine) and our totals came to be $16/per person. Quite the bargain!

These blueberries were some of the best I’d ever tasted. We couldn’t stop ourselves from popping handfuls into our mouths when we returned to the cabin. The sweetness of fresh blueberries rivals any candy out there.

There weren’t many blueberries left for baking or freezing by the time we’d had our fill. I’d hoped to come back to the blueberry farm again before they closed for season, but we didn’t make it in time. Next year, for sure! Blueberry picking was most definitely a summer highlight.