Do you know where your blueberries come from? There are high bush blueberries, (large, fat, mostly flavorless things) and then there are wild Maine blueberries. The Maine variety are small, sweet, flavorful... special. They grow here... where I live! I drive past places like this every day. They are called blueberry barrens. Rocky, treeless places, covered with small bushes that produce a bazillion tiny, flavorful, antitoxin rich berries. There is an art and a science to growing blueberries... rotation of the fields, burning off the bushes periodically, bringing in hives of bees to pollinate the fruit, not to mention importing the migrant workers and high school kids to harvest the crop. In the fall the barrens look like this... a deep rich red. In spring the barrens are a carpet of verdant green. In late summer when the harvest is ready to pick, the acres of barren have a blue cast, as if they are reflecting the endless sky. It is just one more gift that life in Maine offers. And I accept it with the deepest gratitude.
2 comments:
The high bush ones are the only ones that will grow down here. There's a pick your own farm about ten miles from me that I've been to once or twice, but in the past my effort has been directed toward my father's cherries and gooseberries. Since I haven't got any of those planted yet at the new place, I might go pick some blueberries this June.
You have me craving blueberry muffins now!
Post a Comment