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21st Century Hunter-Gatherers

Sunday, July 24, 2011

 I believe I was a crazy good hunter-gatherer in another life. I love to pick things and I'm fast at it. My kids have inherited the gene, although they tend to look for the premium fruit rather than mass volumes of it. They pride themselves not on having the most berries, but the biggest and fattest.  I pick three times faster than they do, but their berries are Super Premium.

The blueberries at Rolling Ridge Berry Farm are more the size of grapes this year. 



And they are sooo beautiful. I love the ones with the heavy bloom, like these:

They remind me of the powdery sheen on a pigeon's feather. 

All around us the songs of Baltimore orioles, scarlet tanagers, robins, cedar waxwings and yellow-breasted chats rang out from the woods and blueberry rows. You won't see crop netting here, or hear cannons or nasty recordings of starling distress calls. The Winders grow enough for the birds and us.

View from the backmost berry row, where I like to pick and bird at the same time. It's alive with yellowthroats, white-eyed vireos, chats, robins and the like.
The habitat all around is rich and birdy to start with and then this farm sets a smorgasbird. You can imagine. Lots of parent birds bring their fledglings to the farm to fatten them up and get a break from the babies' incessant demands for food.

Phoebe and Liam noticed that the sweetest berries were most likely to have a couple pierced by the triangular pecks of birds. They know where the best ones are.

So seduced were we by the abundance and ease of picking that before we knew it we had FORTY-ONE BUCKS WORTH OF BLUEBERRIES. Yiiikes. Which would have been well over $100 worth in the grocery store, only not even a tenth as fresh and delicious. To those of you who are wondering what you do with that many blueberries, we gorge on them fresh and freeze what we can't eat. We give them to friends and family, make cobblers and throw blueberries into smoothies and yogurt and over cereal. We have a blueberry ball. I'm thankful for Rolling Ridge Berry Farm. A visit there is the perfect way to spend a summer afternoon with the kids.





23 comments:

Wow! Whoppers!
One can't get enough blueberries and how perfect for you ... Family, berries, and birds all in one spot.

I'm the lucky neighbor of a native plants nursery. Jim and Bethany have rows of blueberry bushes that produce tons of fruit, which the robins, catbirds and waxwings share. When it's ripe, they invite their friends to pick all they want. The first time I went, I brought an old white enamel stock pot with a bale handle, and came close to filling it. Not bad, considering how many went down the hatch as I picked. As I got ready to go, Jim asked "Is that all you're gonna take?"

My goodness! Those are gorgeous blueberries! What a wonderful time you obviously had. Love that they grow enough for the birds too.

Those are humongous! I wonder what the gray film on the outside of blueberries might be. Is it yeast, as with grapes?

Over in Plant City, near Tampa, they have huge fields of blueberries and strawberries. Rather than nets and fireworks, they hire falconers. Even keeps the Cedar Waxwings away. I like the sharing plan better, but using birds to discourage birds has a certain symmetry to it.

http://www.berriesnw.com/raptors/Guideline.asp

Posted by crackerboy July 25, 2011 at 6:44 AM

I do love blueberries--I would be making blueberry buckle. Oh, and fresh blueberry pancakes.

It is almost obscene how much blueberries cost right now (in grocery stores). I look for the 2 for 1 specials.

those look delicious! suddenly my ones from kroger don't look as good as i thought!

First of all congratulations on being named a blog of note! You have a wonderful blog and you are a wonderful photographer. Those blueberries are incredible! I look forward to following you! (Please stop by when you have a chance to check out my blog - A Camp Host's Meanderings: An RV Adventure.

WOW! Very cool... congratulations on being chosen a Blog of Note!

Steve
Common Cents
http://www.commoncts.blogspot.com

These look great, we have 3 brushes and Darrel has picked over 60lb this summer. All four of Leslie's love them, she uses them the same as you, all winter long. Bella was so happy to say she picked a pound when she was here to help. But we only have to go to the back yard to get ours, but we do have to cover them. Jeanne

Posted by Anonymous July 25, 2011 at 5:46 PM

You have a wonderful, thriving blog. And they are some serious berries! I'm sure you're excited to receive the blog of note recognition!

Duncan In Kuantan

looks delicious and interesting

So beautiful, I like the color of those blueberries :D

Are you sure you didn't pick those in Jurassic Park?! They are huge!

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I thought they were grapes myself,wow. Make some wine with those suckers,lol. Richard from Amish Stories.

OMG! Few things are better than fresh blueberries! All I can think about now are pies and pancakes and muffins... I had better knock it off and stick with blueberries in my oatmeal for now! (Diet... Speaking of, I write honest reviews of diet products on my blog. I'd be really honored if you'd check it out! http://www.weightloss.net ) Your blog is absolutely beautiful!

Mmm... those look so good! Biggest I've ever seen!

I came to your blog just when I was surfing on this topic. I am happy that I found your blog and information I wanted.

I do love blueberries--I would be making blueberry buckle. Oh, and fresh blueberry pancakes.

Hi Julie,
Your blog is wonderful! I am new at this and feel somewhat anxious about keeping a blog; however, after seeing what you have done I am inspired.

hi julie wanna be friends this is anamika from india

Somehow I missed this. Good golly, I'm used to Maine blueberries. Those are HUGE.

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