Girl in Blue
As I search the bowl of blueberries for the bluest black ones … I remember 4 and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie … and my son arranging battles between blueberries and grapes … The blueberries always lost because he ate them … ~ From “A Blueberry Pie” by Colleen
I left Virginia for my vacation in Massachusetts at the peak of blueberry season. The night before I left, my son Dylan’s step-daughter and I slid under the black netting that covers my blueberry plants to harvest the plump ready-to-go crop.
At one point I crawled on my hands and knees in between the fruit laden bushes, finding the best position to pluck the ripest ones while avoiding the thorny blackberry volunteers that promised to draw blood if I didn’t.
In the balmy evening, to the call of the wood thrush, we set about to fill our containers up to the brim with blue. I was working on a quart container for a birthday present for my blueberry loving son, Josh. My husband was due to make another trip to Asheville to work on Josh’s building site, and I wanted to send it, knowing I’d be in Massachusetts for Josh’s twenty-eighth birthday. In the past, there was pie for his birthday, which falls the same time the blueberries are ready. This year fresh blueberries would have to do. (I cut out a red paper heart and placed it on top of my gift before I left.)
She was trying to fill a pint container but wasn’t getting very far because she was eating as she picked. “If you can fill your tub to the top your mother will be able to make blueberry muffins for you,” I told her.
She was thrilled with the potatoes I let her dig up and would later line them up on the kitchen table as if they were treasure or Halloween candy.
“Do you like French fries?” I asked her and then went on to describe all the ways she could cook a potato. But her blueberry tub was emptying as we spoke, so I went and got a cover for it. I gave her another even smaller container that I would help her fill.
“This one is your very own for the drive home,” I said.
With a blueberry stuck between her lips, she smiled as she took it.
Post notes: Happy Birthday, Josh. Last year’s crop of blueberry reading HERE.
July 18th, 2007 11:16 am
a delicious post, just what I expect when I visit here, have a great vacation
July 18th, 2007 11:18 am
Hi, David. I did. See below.
July 18th, 2007 12:00 pm
I deeply remember sitting on a bank of blackberry bushes beside Hines Drive, with a little empty tub, eating blackberries, invisible under the foliage. Alone, and eating to my heart’s content.
July 18th, 2007 12:28 pm
I have memories of picking wild blueberries on the side of the road in Cape Cod with my grandmother. They were much smaller, but so exciting to find. I still remember the smell of pine in the woods as we picked.
And I, and all my siblings, have many memories of blackberry picking because they grew in abundance near our house. We supplemented our summer diet with them and had the scratches to prove it.
July 18th, 2007 1:13 pm
Oh, Colleen — I cannot beging to tell you how wonderful this story is! The kids and I adore blueberries! Well, almost any kind of berry! We’ve had a terrible crop of everything this year — strawberries, blueberries, because of the late frost and dry spell we had.
Great post — hmmmm!
Lara
July 18th, 2007 4:04 pm
This picture of her in blue is so precious! Blueberry pie was a favourite of mine along with cherry. I love blueberry crisp too. Wild are the tastiest but sure are tiny and take time to pick! Store bought are huge sometimes.
Happy baking..poor Josh..no pie this year!
July 18th, 2007 5:10 pm
Three little kittens that lost their mittens … and Eve’s holy offering of fruit … all exist together in an archetypal pie …
Last year she raided my corn and she was wearing yellow and orange. I’m going to know what food to harvest next by the color of her clothes.
July 18th, 2007 6:39 pm
Nothing like picking berries right off the vine! I bet those pies that you make are SCRUMPTIOUS!
In answer to your question: Yes, I had posted this before. In fact, I put a note about it at the bottom of this post, yesterday, in red, saying that I had indeed posted it before and it had somehow gotten back into my drafts column…(OY!)….But that I needed to post it again so that the next installment made some sense….If you go back, my dear, you will see I addressed this.
July 18th, 2007 6:57 pm
Mmmm Blueberries! I was planning on taking the kids to a pick-your-own blueberry farm this year…but, discovered after talking with some of the farmers at the Farmer’s Market, that the fruits really took a hard hit with the freeze this past year. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to pick blueberries this year. We bought a few pints and I think I ate one of them by myself! My kids can’t stay away from any fruit!LOL Happy Birthday Josh, from your third generation (I think)cousin!
July 19th, 2007 12:33 am
I’ve never had fresh from the garden blueberries, but they sound delicious. But then, anything eaten as soon as it’s picked is a special treat.
We’ve just harvested our second zuchinni and are thinking about adding a third raised bed next year and expanding the herb bed too. Who knew squash could be so tasty and delightful?
July 19th, 2007 6:58 am
I love the color matching blueberry clothes! It is so much fun seeing garden rewards through the eyes of the young!
July 19th, 2007 6:27 pm
ahh….childhood! i did the same except with raw peas. i couldn’t get enough of them!
your gardens are lovely!!!
July 19th, 2007 8:40 pm
Wonderful color coordination, and what a cutie she is.