Jun 10
1
Blue, Blue, Blue Blueberries…
It is summertime. My daughters, son and I have planned to pick blueberries for about a week. Last Tuesday, my oldest daughter came by after picking up her preschoolers, and said, “Are we going to pick blueberries?” So, we loaded everybody in the car and off we went!
It took us about 40 minutes to arrive at the blueberry fields. Futch Family Farms are in central Florida. (Take I-4 to exit 48, go north; the farm is a few miles north of the interstate.) The berries were big, beautiful and delicious. I am not a blueberry fan, but I have eaten my share.
After we arrived, we met our friends, the Grays, also picking blueberries. We met the owner’s son, Ben, and off we went. We made some mistakes, though. I wore capris and flip flops. There were yellow flies and beautiful yellow spiders among the bushes of blueberries. Ben helped us pick. When the Grays had the amount of blueberries they came for, they helped us pick. How blessed I felt to have such good friends.
Even our little ones were in the fields helping us pick blueberries. I kept thinking, “My father would love this!” All my life, he has loved picking produce and our putting it up to store for he winter. He always hated to stop and leave more ripe fruit (or vegetables) on the vine or bush. I had some of those feelings as I picked blueberries. How many will we need? Who needs a lift and would love for us to share our blueberries? I wonder if we can bottle blueberries and blueberry pie filling?
We talked about this among those of us who came to pick blueberries. One of the ladies was making blueberry syrup, one knew that you could put up the pie filling. Ben told us not to wash the blueberries before freezing, but to pull out of the bag what we needed and wash them before eating or cooking. We stopped for water and juice boxes.
As we left the field that day, I felt empowered. I had been able to physically go and pick blueberries. I shared the love of my family, friends and even strangers as we picked our blueberries together. I was working with my family members. I was putting up in store to help care for my family. I was outside, enjoying nature. I wanted to come back again.
My children and grandchildren did return. I want to go this week. My son found a recipe for blueberry syrup and 2 batches will make just enough…
How will you empower yourself this week?
