The Best Blueberries

Blueberries have definitely been the most important staple in my sons life in terms of fruit. For whatever reason, he LOVES blueberries. He certainly enjoys all of the other fresh fruits but blueberries have been the one he chooses above all else haha. We don't complain about it one bit, because it's so good for him!

Right now it's blueberry season, one of my favorite times of year because I also quite enjoy blueberries. I think I prefer apples more, but these early season blueberries are absolutely delicious.

While we were picking the blueberries, we got a sneak-peak at the next upcoming fruit variety that is going to be ready for harvesting in a couple weeks: peaches and nectarines! I do enjoy those, but they have to be cut up.

The farms near us definitely have a wonderful variety though, and that's what we enjoy the most. There is such an important aspect of our lives that we forget quite often: what is fresh and in season! It's certainly a good thing that our local world is globally connected, meaning that many people get food from all over the world as a benefit of this interconnectivity but it also means that the food many people get is not fresh as it has to last longer for the journey.

Picking the blueberries fresh off the bushes is a great way to spend a few hours in a day! The early season blueberries are definitely my preferred choice because they are more on the tart side than the are sweet. I am not a fan of overly sweet fruit, because it feels more artificial than anything which is likely the case.

I find fruit to be a good blend of sweetness and tartness, with the early season varieties of the blueberries having that blend quite nicely. I think it's a lot of fun to see how the bushes are full with the different stages, and you get to appreciate how nature works. It doesn't ripen ALL of the fruit at once because that would then lead to a lot of waste and it would reduce the chances of birds and other animals and insects eating it, transporting the seeds where it wants them to go.

I love the look of the bushes and fruit after a nice bit of rain! The water condensation on the leaves is really cool looking. Picking the fruit when it's cloudy, or after a rain the night or day before is good because it keeps the environment on the cooler side, and the fruit is nice and refreshed. It also keeps the bugs away! Picking fresh fruit is wonderful but we aren't the only ones who love the fruit, the worst ones are the hornets that are in there enjoying the sweet juices from them!

The important aspect to getting these things at the farm, with us picking them, is that it helps the farm reduce costs and makes it more profitable for them. To have people pay them in order to pick their fruit, they don't have to hire as many farm workers to labor in the fields, which reduces the overhead cost. There is such a nice give and take relationship with this, where they spend the time and energy growing healthy plants, fertilizing them and all that, and we pick the fresh fruit from their bushes and they reduce the food waste as much as possible, and also packaging! This is a really important lesson for a lot of people to learn, especially children.

Thankfully the blueberry season does last quite a few weeks, which really helps us get a lot of them. This is the fruit that we fill our freezer with the most as the weeks go by. We've learned that if we fill the freezer with these fruits now, like the cherries and blueberries, our son is able to enjoy them for many weeks into the autumn and winter as he eats a handful or two at night.

Not only does that save us money, from not having to buy these things at the store for a much higher price, it also helps reduce the poisons and other things that the fruit get exposed to in the shipping process, making it healthier fruit overall for him. That's a win in my book!