We always look forward to the time in summer when we can finally pick summer berries – strawberries and more recently blueberries and some raspberries. It’s a fun summer activity that our whole family loves! Check out our strawberry picking here.
Blueberry Picking Patch
We went blueberry picking a few weeks ago when the season was just about ready. Last year, we went to that same patch but the berries were so much bigger and it seemed like we went the perfect day. This year though, we went about a week earlier than before and the berries weren’t as big. But they were ready and big enough for picking. However, I think another few days would have made them so much more bigger and even more ready.
The important thing is that we went the right time when things were in full bloom. So much berries to pick but I guess you could only pick so much, right? It was raining and windy too, so we picked fast and didn’t stay as long as we did last year.
Most of the blueberries were picked by my husband and small son since we divided up because of the weather. One of the kids wanted to stay in the van since it was so windy. We didn’t bring light jackets since it was summer and hot went we went last year. We knew it was supposed to rain but didn’t expect it to be a bit too chili for the kids.
Fruit Farm With Several Fruits
This fruit farm has several other places to pick fruit. They have apples (not yet ready), cherries (sweet & sour), blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries and I even heard they had ELDERBERRIES too. Elderberries has great health benefits but do you know how expensive elderberries are to purchase at a store? Super expensive! I believe they have some vegetables there too. Such a large farm with so much to pick as each fruit comes into bloom.
Last year, we picked both cherries and blueberries. This year, all the sweet cherries were already gone when we got there – only sour cherries were left. The owners mentioned that the cherries didn’t do great this year!! This next photo shows a snippet of the apples.
Raspberry Picking
Two of the kids loves raspberries and one of them were delighted to be able to pick them. There was more on the branches this year than last although, many of them were already starting to dry. But look at the berries on those branches – so beautiful!! The girls picked with me here while my husband and son finished picking the blueberries (as mentioned above because of the rain – we were trying to hurry). Actually, I was headed to the van with this one since she was cold and we decided to grab some raspberries on our way out. We ended up staying for a bit to pick some more.
Raspberry Picking
This, our first daughter, was in her happy place here, picking and eating all the raspberries. Both her and our little son loves raspberries. She was with them picking blueberries but came over to pick with us.
Her words to us “I thought you guys came to pick and I came to eat?” In other words, wasn’t that the plan?! No kiddo, not sure if we are even allowed to eat while we pick but I’m assuming that farm owners know that kids will do that right? Maybe they up the price a batch a little just in case? Hmmm, I think so but I could be wrong. Either way, the kid was super delighted!!
We went home with 8 pounds of blueberries and 1 small … of raspberries (not quite full). Because of the weather, we only picked 5 lbs blueberries but my husband added another 3 lbs already picked by the farm workers. Despite the weather, it was good to pick our own fruits.
What we did with all that Berries
- Blueberries – Froze some (see how I do that here). I like to separate them and save some for later uses when they’re not in season anymore. I know I could buy some from the store but it’s fun to pick and save your own – kinda like harvesting the crops for later. I like to pretend that I’m something:) I also keep a frozen set immediate or sooner uses for things like smoothies and toppings (for pancakes, waffles, ice-cream maybe, and things like that).
- Made a delicious pie
- Left some out for eating – snacking & yogurt topping
- Raspberries – Not much but I didn’t want them to go bad since they tend to so quickly and I think the kids already had enough from when they were picking. So I mixed it with some blueberries and made a blueberry-raspberry bread. So yummy!
Making a Blueberry Pie
I think fresh blueberries call for a homemade blueberry pie, don’t you think? Sometimes, I use my own recipe but it’s actually being a while since I’ve made a blueberry pie so I’d kind of forgot my recipe. I used a recipe from the Better Homes and Garden’s New Cookbook but altered it just a little. It was delicious!
So tasty! Although, it required me to do some fitness exercises after the pie! Here is a similar link to the recipe if you want to try it out. It’s a basic fruit pie recipe with alterations for each berry. I have the book so couldn’t find an exact link to it.
I added 1 tsp (or 2tsp?) of lemon juice to the filling although the recipe didn’t call for it. I love how lemon balances off the sweetness in fruit pies.
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Do you go fruit picking with your family? I’d love to know what is your favorite fruits to pick and what you do with them when you get home.
