Growing up in Tennessee we picked blackberries. Not at a blackberry farm, but they just grew on bushes out behind our house or in the woods. It was one of those things where we would grab a handful and eat them outside in the summer heat, sweat dripping down our faces. It was a sign of summer. Sort of like blueberries are, to me, a true sign of summer in Louisiana.
We are really lucky to have a farmer's market here where you can get fresh picked ones every Saturday through July, but what I really love about Louisiana is that there are blueberry farms, ones where you go and grab a bucket and pick to your heart's content. It's the experience that takes me back to being a child in summer picking blackberries off a bush in the woods with my friends.
Last Wednesday I went picking with a couple of ladies, who share the same love of being outside and eating what is local and fresh. It was a delightful morning that started off with an iced honey latte from my favorite local coffee shop (where we all met), and was followed by a couple hours of blueberry picking! We grabbed a bucket and picked away till we were all soaked with sweat, our arms were drenched from morning dew on the blueberry branches, and our buckets were full and heavy.
It was the perfect morning spent with two very inspiring and creative women, (Lindsey and Holly.) Holly and Lindsey have precious little boys and Holly's came with us and seriously is there anything cuter than those little fingers holding that blueberry??
I ended up picking six and a half pounds of blueberries! Needless to say, I have made blueberry pie bars, blueberry pancakes, blueberry and peach sangria, put blueberries on top of cereal and oatmeal, and we basically eat a handful every time the fridge opens...I'm afraid our skin might start turning blue soon. But really who cares because they are so delicious I can't stop myself.
I will have wittled away at most of them by the end of the week and I am not sure if I will even have to freeze any. I am afraid I have started to become addicted to the blueberries and I don't know what a day will be like when I won't have a plethora of them looking so pretty in my fridge.
