First of all you have to have a bucket. You will soon want to have a few with you as the berries are so good that you never get enough, especially when you start freezing them, cooking them for jams and sauces or, my favorite, putting them in the blender with various things for a morning liquid breakfast and treat. Anyway, even if your first intention is to just get enough for your breakfast cereal, you will likely get carried away and want more and more and more. We all do!
There are all sorts of bucket carry methods. Some have replaced the bail of the pail with a strap and hooks so they can sling it around their neck, over their shoulder or even around their waist. You can get an adjustable luggage strap, with a heavy shoulder pad and non-slip grip, from the luggage store. It already has the end hooks, which can be attached to the pail, and such a strap can be had about twelve bucks. Just take off the bail and figure a way to attach the hooks to the pail. You can experiment with all sorts of carry arrangements.
Some of the old-timers, like my Pop Pop, used to lace their belt through the pail and just let it hang as they walked around each bush and picked until it was full. He had both hands free to pick that way. Who would ever want to pick with only one hand? That's way too slow! When I was younger I hung the bucket around by neck on a big soft rope. Now I use the luggage strap method and change it around all the time for comfort and utility. I think most people just hold and move the pail or slip one arm through it to the elbow, like you would carry a purse while paying the cashier.
Most folks seem to look for those giant blueberries (or any other berry they are picking) and often leave all the small and ordinary ones. I like the ripest fruit the best, by far. I have been known to go to where the bushes have already been picked a few days earlier and get the ready-to-burst ripe berries. Some scientists say that a fruit is not fully nutritious until the moment it is ready to fall to the ground as a seed carrier. I am that way too. I prefer all my fruit when it is so ripe that I just touch it and it falls into my hands. The complex chemical changes in the plant that turn the fruit into a perfect food for the seed occur just before it falls to earth and that is when I want it for my body's use.
I like the fruit plump, juicy and cool! I eat a LOT as I pick, so for me the very best time of the day to pick is the cool of the early morning, as early as I can arrange it. There is no better way to start the day than picking blueberries in the field and having a belly full of fresh berries for breakfast. I just give the cashier more money to pay for all the berries I eat while picking. My favorite picking fantasy, and one I've luckily enjoyed a few times, is picking at sunrise in a heavy cool dew and staying at it 'till the warming sun has burned off the last of the wetness and I'm full as a tick on a hound dog's ear.
The cool of the evening is another good time to pick, when the sun has had the entire day to nourish the leaves and push that good juice into the berry. I love the feel of the cool air and the warmth of the sun burned soil coming up in my face, when I pick berries in the cool, late, afternoon or early evening! Personally, I am not a middle-of-the-hot-sunny-day picker. Some like it hot. I don't. There is something special about having a couple of full pails of blueberries beside me as I travel home in my vehicle at sunset.
Blueberries are a delight to pick, at Ryan's Blueberry Farm, as they are tended in rows with good walking spaces in-between. The thorns are not a problem like they are on other berries, or some of the wild berries at the edge of fields and woods. At Ryan's I can wear a T-shirt, shorts and even sandals if I want. As I am not a heat of the day picker, I don't need the big straw hat. If you pick middle of the day, to do your berry harvesting, bring a big cool hat and sunscreen.
Some of my favorite times have been when I've picked with children or a friend. I have a bad back so blueberries are nowhere near the trouble that strawberries are! What a relief that is! Still, for berry picking, I like to bring my lightweight folding stool or chair. Nearly weightless folding stools and chairs are available at K-Mart, WallMart or outdoors stores like Sunny's Surplus. In the old days, lots of folks around here used to bring the milking stools with them or even a folding card-table chair to move around the bushes with. They weighed a lot more than my folding stool that I got from a hunting store where they sell them to the dove hunters.
As I am only interested in the ripest of the berries, I only seek those that are deep, dark, and blue all over. They aren't ripe till they are deepest blue. It's that deep blue that has all the miracle ingredients that makes blueberries one of the healthiest foods on earth! Let the immature blueberry-children grow -- leave the unripe ones to ripen is my motto.
Like all fruit that I'm aware of, the ripe berries are ready to fall off the bush and the unripe ones need some pulling and tugging. When the kids are with me, I tell them that if the bush is moving much when they pull the berries, the berries are not ripe. Sure, the unripe berries will get more blue if you set them in the sunlight, even after you pick them. But, I doubt that they are getting all the same nutrients from just the sun that they would be getting on the plant if they stayed there until they were done. The bush ripened ones seem to be a lot sweeter to me.
I look forward to being spoiled again this year, with fresh and nutritious berries from the farm. Those ones in the store just don't make it for me, unless that is all I can get.
Copyright ? 2001-2005 www.jodyhudson.com
Source of Article: www.jodyhudson.com
car service from Midway Anna ..The latest tallies show that over three million people in... Read More
Niacin, also called nicotinic acid, is a member of the... Read More
Fat is a nutrient that is a contributor to the... Read More
Acid Reflux Disease, or GERD, is a common disease which... Read More
Fruit calories are very healthy as compared to calories in... Read More
If you drop a bomb, you kill not only your... Read More
Who suffers from Eating Disorders?Eating Disorder sufferers are male and... Read More
Female and male athletes respond to training in a fairly... Read More
You say you don't know what glyconutrients are? You are... Read More
Headlines:Nearly a quarter of American adults just got diagnosed with... Read More
Some people say to themselves, junk food is not that... Read More
Arthritis - if you suffer from this illness, I don't... Read More
I'm 40-something years old, and for 40-something years breakfast has... Read More
The word herb is used to refer to any part... Read More
Creating Your Target is easy.What I use to help create... Read More
This is usually the forgotten element of most mass programs.... Read More
I don't understand people sometimes. You know, there is a... Read More
Dr. Barry Sears revolutionized nutritional thinking around the world with... Read More
Dieters who dejectedly complain they are figuratively "stuck" with their... Read More
They sit left behind on relish trays. They're often by-passed... Read More
Hi Readers,My message today is simple short and perhaps blunt... Read More
What if there was a combination of foods that were... Read More
During the past thirty years there has been a steadily... Read More
White-spotted or yellow splotched teeth may reveal more than needed... Read More
Cholesterol is an essential building block of every cell in... Read More
bmw rental chicago Verona .."You are what you eat."Does it sound familiar? You probably... Read More
There are so many topics to discuss which affect our... Read More
Meal sizes and frequency are very important. Over the years... Read More
Bright white teeth and fresh breath does not necessarily... Read More
What is the best protein powder to buy? I get... Read More
About 12.6 million Americans currently have heart disease.1.1 million Americans... Read More
When we think about the benefits of being ensuring a... Read More
The adrenal or "stress glands" are small, triangular shaped glands... Read More
You wouldn't judge a book by its cover, would you?You... Read More
The proliferation of fast food restaurants, convenience stores, and vending... Read More
The Mediterranean Diet is now recognized as one of the... Read More
Most of us eat at restaurants for a variety of... Read More
All of my life I believed the best way to... Read More
Approximately 30 years ago, food manufacturers were competing against the... Read More
Essential fatty acids are the number one recommendation for anyone... Read More
Ionized minerals, colloidal minerals, chelated minerals . . . What... Read More
Fats have been unfairly lumped together as being all bad... Read More
Copyright ? 2004 priya shah Glutathione, the body's... Read More
America's focus on nutritious eating began to receive national attention... Read More
Headlines:Nearly a quarter of American adults just got diagnosed with... Read More
Do you know the risks to daily intakes of Starbucks... Read More
This is usually the forgotten element of most mass programs.... Read More
Nutrition has everything to do with health. This isn't news,... Read More
Do you need omega 3 fatty acid in your diet?... Read More
"Organic" has some quite specific legal definitions in most developed... Read More
Nutrition |