Blueberries for Eli

Friday Eli didn't have school, so I wanted to do something fun and get us out of the house. When I signed him in for school Thursday, I noticed a flyer advertising a blueberry farm close to where we live. I'd been to this farm several years ago thinking I could pick blueberries only to find out I couldn't. I was very sad. I went with the hopes of picking fresh blueberries and taking them home and baking all kinds of delicious goodies. But at this particular time, this farm didn't have the "you pick" option. Now they do! I don't know if they are under new ownership, but I'm so glad that they have opened their blueberry farm to the public. There is nothing better than a fresh, ripe blueberry that just bursts in your mouth when you eat it. YUM-O! It's one of the things I think of when I think of summer. I checked their website and saw that for just $1 a pound we could pick as many blueberries as we wanted! If you're not into picking your own blueberries, they also will pick the blueberries for you for $2 a pound. It's a great deal either way!

We got there and the people who run the "You Pick" part of the farm were incredibly nice! They offered us ice cold water and sunscreen and were extremely accommodating. Eli and I chose to get just one bucket because I didn't know how long he would last. Picking blueberries sounded fun to him, but I kind of knew that he wouldn't last the entire time...boy, was I right about that!

The farmers told us to find the bushes with the light green tape tied around them because those blueberries were the ripest. We hurried off to find those bushes. I tried my best to make it as fun as possible for Eli. I purposely led us to some the side of the bushes that were in the shade.

As you can see, Eli ventured away from the shade to some other bushes to pick a few blueberries. He started off very interested in picking blueberries with me. He looked for the big fat blue ones and picked about five of those and then things started to go downhill. I'd love to say that our blueberry picking was idyllic and couldn't have been better, but it wouldn't be the truth. The truth was that I couldn't wait to fill up my bucket because of a certain little two year old that couldn't make peace with the fact that his toes were getting wet from the dew on the grass. Oh dear!

For the next thirty minutes, I scoured the bushes looking for big, fat blueberries and Eli whined about his feet getting wet.

(Dear Son, if you're reading this, I hope that over the years you've adjusted to getting your feet wet. I, too, hate stepping in wet grass, but at certain times, you just have to suck it up. Hopefully, you've made your peace with the dew on the grass. If you haven't, I'm guessing you never leave the house in anything but shoes that cover all your toes. Not matter what, I love you. I'm thankful that you were placed in my life despite your hatred of wet grass :) Love, Your Mother)

At one point, I was holding him on my right hip clutching my phone and camera at the same time, had my purse on my left hip, and had the blueberry bucket hanging from my neck. Whew! I tried to stay upbeat though because I really did want this to be a fun experience for both of us. I kept asking him to help me pick blueberries and even offered him some of the plumpest berries to eat right then, but Eli still wasn't happy. He kept asking if I was all done about every two minutes and trying to climb up my back so his feet wouldn't touch the wet ground. I managed to fill my bucket almost completely to the top and we darted off to find Edwin, one of the workers, to get some ice cold water. Eli posed with "our" bucket of blueberries. He was just happy that we were finally finished and his feet could dry off now!

Edwin gave us some water and that made things a little better. Just to clarify, we went at 8:30 in the morning, so it really wasn't that hot yet. I checked the temperature before we got out of the car and it was only around 80 degrees. Eli never complained about being hot, so the temperature was not the issue...just the dew.

They weighed our blueberries and packed them in a box. Our grand total was only $4.38. Wow! What a great deal! If you live in our area, please go visit them! They are trying to get the word out about this great opportunity to pick your own fresh blueberries and I feel the urge to help them out a little bit :) You know, blueberries ARE a super food and are extremely good for you!

I plan on going back in a couple of weeks to get some more. If I don't use them all this summer, I'll freeze them so I can have blueberries throughout the year. Hopefully, Eli will have a better experience when we go back. I'll just make sure he's wearing boots this time :)