Blueberry Bliss

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Our family loves blueberries. Every summer, when we find out they're ripe at the farms, we go u-picking as often as we can, and fill up our chest freezer for the winter.  We eat them frozen on cold cereal, oatmeal, in pancakes, in muffins, drizzled in raw cream, in smoothies, and just plain by themselves. Aside from wild huckleberries, they're one of my favorite fruits, and so easy to harvest!

We have a couple of favorite organic u-pick farms that we like to go and visit. The McKenzie River Farm has been our spot for the last few years, but now that we moved out of town in the opposite direction, we just made one special day trip out there this year. The blueberry bushes on this bio-dynamic farm are so tall they're like trees, and you can pick in their cool shade on a hot day.

I always enjoy seeing their cobb farm building when I'm there. It reminds me of an enchanted Hobbit house, with all the little round windows and curved shape. Inside they sell delicious homemade blueberry popsicles that are a good treat for tired kids at the end of a few hours picking. They also sell their raw butter here, which is delicious, and honey, dried blueberries, and organic veggies.

My kids love visiting all the farm animals there. They have chickens, ducks, cows, and pigs that love visits from kids, and a fun rope swing on a big old tree. It's a full farm experience, well worth the trip.

We were also happy to discover an organic blueberry farm out our way this year, that our friend, Taryn of Wooly Moss Roots told us about. It's about halfway in between for us to get together, so we can meet there to pick! The berries are so abundant, sweet and juicy out there that we keep going out there to pick in the evenings. The farmer's going to have a hard time getting rid of us!

Blueberry picking bliss

Sometimes, we can get a little silly when we're out there munching on all those berries.

 Something about having all those berries gives me a sense of wealth beyond measure. They're like little blue jewels. It feels good to start filling the freezer with them for the winter. When it's cold, and nothing is growing outside, we'll have berries for our breakfast. As we gather the Summer's abundance, and move with the wheel of the year, I feel prepared to welcome the seasons to come.