Changes at the Blueberry Patch

It seems the conditions this year were right for the wild blueberries, and it was a cooler day than usual so my husband and I went to pick some berries. What we found was that the area near the blueberry patches is under construction - a very large new school is being built nearby. Since the berries are under major power lines, I am not worried that they will go away, but the usual trail has been widened, smoothed and graveled. So, while the time we were there was not quiet or peaceful in any way, the sheer amount and size of the berries meant we filled our half-gallon container in about an hour and half, which is quite fast, especially for just the two of us. And we didn't have to leave the first patch we found. 

We now have 10 jars of wild blueberry jam, and more in the fridge for now. 

Making jam did require some teamwork as I broke my right elbow last week and am not allowed to lift anything heavy. The canning pot full of water definitely qualifies as heavy, so my husband helped get it on the stove and was nearby if I needed anything. Fortunately, the rest I could do with my left hand - stir, ladle, close the jars, etc. I am out of work due to this injury and hopefully it won't take longer than six weeks to heal. 

Berries!

Canning season has been a bust until today. Strawberry season at our favorite PYO place lasted all of three days due to the weather not cooperating. The farm share isn't happening this year. We haven't had time to go out as a family to do any of the PYO things we might have done. I haven't canned a thing since March. Our mulberry tree did well and I did make a mulberry pie but I have plenty of jelly and syrup already so I didn't make any this year.

Finally, today, we went to our favorite wild blueberry spot. The weather has not been kind to these berries, either, and it was hard to find good patches to pick. We did see an Eastern Towhee, which I don't think I've ever seen before. In two hours the four of us had two quarts of berries. We came home overheated, hungry and tired. After cleaning up and having a little food, I got to work and made a batch of blueberry jam (with added pectin). There were enough berries for me to freeze two cups for baking later and I ended up with just shy of seven jars of jam. 

Wild Blueberries

Another thing that's been missed for the past few years has been wild blueberry season. We did find some when we were camping last year, but we hadn't trekked out to our favorite spot since 2017. Apparently, in the interim the bushes were sprayed again and have started to come back but aren't up to their usual bounty. 

Yesterday we went fairly early in the morning to go pick - partly because it was the coolest day of the week and partly because it was a weekday and hopefully not as crowded. As we're still fairly busy and everyone has been tired lately, we set a limit of two hours of picking. At the end of that we had just under 6 cups of berries. Last year I had made blueberry jam from the regular berries we picked in NH, and still have a bunch, and this was enough to freeze some and make a batch of scones. 

This morning I made a full batch of scones which made twenty. In addition to the blueberries I tossed in a bit of crystallized ginger. I froze a dozen and the rest we had throughout the day. Although they were at their best still warm from the oven, with soft butter. Mmm.