July 14th: Berry Picking.
Last year, I picked strawberries (20lbs) and blueberries (20.9lbs). For both the pickings, I had one more person with me and that helped in the poundage that we picked. Once they were brought home, these lovely berries were packaged into small serving bags and frozen. I am very pleased to report that this was indeed a very successful experiment. After a year, I am still enjoying gorgeous frozen strawberries and them blueberries. YUM!
This year, with all the travel in June, I missed the strawberry season altogether! There was one weekend I could have gone picking, but I was told that the thunderstorms had not been kind to the strawberries. No strawberries, this year. I am bummed out. :( I still have about 3lbs from last year's freezing going pretty strong.
I moved on to watching out for blueberry and raspberry picking. Last year's blueberry picking at Turkey Hill Farm, Haverhill, MA was incredible. See pictures from last year. This year the crop is predicted to meet, if not beat, last years produce. Instead of waiting till early August, I thought I will go a little early for couple of reasons. They were:
a) I wanted to see what early season picking looked like
b) The farm was offering excellent raspberry (red and yellow) picking, and last year I missed that in August.
c) Early August I really want to go to Ipswich (Russell Orchards) for Peach Festival. Good Lord! This is turning out to be a full fledged project plan with deadlines, milestones and timing it all just right, neither too early nor too late for peak picking.
In a nut-shell the plans are:
1. July 14th: (Turkey Hill Farm, Haverhill, MA) blueberry early picking. Check raspberries and pick if possible.
2. August 11: (Russell Orchards, Ipswich, MA) Peach Festival and Farm Stand
3. August (third week....): peach picking? Can that be rolled into the Peach Festival? Perhaps not.
4. Sept: apple picking... been there.... done that.... now I am bored with it! Maybe some late raspberry.....
5...... Whew! I need a freezer!
Check off the item 1!
7AM on July 14th, I found my self armed with sunscreen, straw hat, comfortable clothes, shoes, water and most important a coffee, and driving to Haverhill, MA. The temperature was already reading 69 deg and promises to be gorgeous day with temperatures around 75 deg and cool breezes. My kind of day; not too hot, and not too cold, and just right with the cool breeze. The previous two days, the weather has been very kind, with sunny clear warm days and cool evenings. The kind weather has led to ripe and plump berries. I can hardly wait to see, smell, and taste them.
By 8AM, I have parked and ready to pick raspberries. On the recommendation of the farm stand girl, I start with raspberries, because you have to be infinitely more patient with these little red ones, to plop them from the center core without crushing the berry. If the berry is ripe it yields easily. If it is not ripe enough then the berry breaks off at the stem. If it is too ripe, then you are left holding a tablespoon of juice instead of a berry. So, picking is slow and careful. Did I mention that these berry bushes are about couple feet wide and couple feet in height and to get to the great large ripe berries, you have to bend in odd angles to avoid breaking tender stems and yet diving into these bushes. Bending at odd angles, stretching is all fine, but these little shrubs come armed with soft thorns on the stems. Those thorns are soft, but they are still thorns! My arms are a mess! Actually a MESS!
By 10AM, I have 8 pints of red raspberries! They are gorgeous! They are red, juicy, tart and by god, they are yummy! I must have had 4-5 berries while picking. (NOTE: It is considered stealing to eat more than just a few)
By 10:15AM I am ready to pick blueberries. The sun is climbing and so is the temperature. So, with more sunscreen and water, I am back at picking. My back, is starting to grumble, but the warmth is keeping it happy. blueberry are infinitely easier to pick. For one, they are taller plants about 4-5 feet and each branch is loaded with blue/black-bombshells. So, pretty much standing, or squating, or crawling under the little tree gets the job done. By this time, there are fellow veteran pickers who have joined me in picking. Or rather I have joined them as they are well underway in their picking from 8AM. Dave, the owner and farmer has joined us. So, once again I am amongst blueberry pickers and chatting about blueberries, joking and enjoying the weather.
By 11:30AM: I have 13.6lbs of blueberries! What can I say, they are yummy! I need a break now. My back is gone stiff and besides I needed a restroom break. So, the farm stand is hold my pickings, while I take a much needed break. Refreshed and ready for some yellow raspberries! I knew I had about an hour more before the heat would get to me and back would freeze up on me. So, I attacked the yellow raspberries. They are sweeter than the reds. Two pints is all I could get. These are harder to get and lesser in production.
By 12:30PM: My back has called it a day about 10 mins ago! All that bending, stretching, holding, crawling for extended period of time, has frozen my back. I am done. 13.6lbs blueberries, 10 pints of raspberries (8 red and 2 yellow). I call it a great day for picking! On to eating them, sharing them, freezing them (if any is left over :)) and ah.. well! resting my back.
Now for some mouth-watering pictures:
