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| Picture Perfect at Jaswell Farms Photos by Benner! |
A few weeks ago, in Farm Fresh’s weekly newsletter, I wrote about how awesome it is to pick your own blueberries. I actually had never been to a PYO location, but I had picked blueberries as a kid up in Maine. Well, I decided to take a piece of my own advice and go blueberry picking with some friends at Jaswell Farm in Smithfield, RI. Rosemary, Nora, Benner, Jesse, and I piled into my car and drove for about fifteen minutes before we arrived at the farm. It really is amazing how close a city can be to farmland.
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| Oh hey, that's what your blogger looks like when crawling in between rows of blueberry bushes!! |
If you ever get the chance to go blueberry picking, or any sort of pick it yourself operation, I highly recommend it. Not only was it fun, exciting, and even a little competitive at times, but it was also a different way to interact with one’s food. To be able to see huge blueberry bushes exploding with fruit on them was fascinating. Then, to be able to personally select every blueberry by hand felt very special. It became personal… maybe even a personal investment. Since we handpicked every blueberry, I immediately froze a bunch of them so that none of them would be wasted. I also was more willing to share blueberries and brought some into school because I was proud that we had picked them ourselves and wanted to share that with others. When you have the opportunity and experience to pick your own food, that food becomes a lot more valuable to you. The funniest part is that blueberries are a lot less expensive when you pick them yourself. These blueberries were about $2.98/pound. Two weeks before I bought a pint of blueberries for $5!!! Picking my own fruit changed my relationship to food and made me appreciate the path food takes from being grown to being served on my table exponentially more. Hopefully you will have the time to do this activity with your loved ones soon!
Here's some pictures to excite and encourage you to go blueberry picking yourself!
Here's some pictures to excite and encourage you to go blueberry picking yourself!
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| My splendid team of workers Jesse (the boy), Rosemary(left), Nora (right) |
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| Nearly twenty pounds of blueberries!!! Picture by Rosemary |
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| That sure makes Jesse happy! Are you now craving some food with blueberries in it? Here's a link to a few recipes that I posted in Farm Fresh's newsletter last week! My own blueberry crisp recipe will be up soon! |
I am so jealous! In Utah, there are no blueberry farms. The soil is just to base, and blueberries do not grow. We have great cherries, which we pick regularly, but no blueberries :(. I am really enjoying your style of writing, along with the content. Keep it up!
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