Friday, May 23, 2008

Blueberries!

My parents and I went blueberry picking this morning. We were out the door at 9am and didn't get back until almost 1pm because the "You Pick!" farm was on the other end of the county, south of Plant City. Only downside - pesticides in the fields 'cause it was conventional and not organic. So diligent showering and laundry doing was very necessary once I got home.

Everything else is wonderful! Altogether, we picked 14 pounds of blueberries in about two hours. Yum, yum, yum! I picked 5.9 pounds, beating my dad by a tenth of a pound (haha!), and my mom got the rest... maybe a third of a bucket, about 2.3 pounds.

It wasn't too hot either, thank goodness! And the bugs weren't bad (probably because of the aforementioned pesticides). One lady though who was picking too, she said, "Oh, I hate these Florida bugs!" flapping her hand around the bushes. I said, "They aren't that bad. They're worse in the middle of the summer." (Really, they weren't that bad. Mostly butterflies, stinkbugs, and some spiders, which were small and not aggressive types, and wasps that sat high on the bushes and didn't really fly around much.) And she said, "Well, back home, the bugs are only just waking up!" I said, "They never go away down here. You get used to it," and shrugged. She walked on, picking and making less than pleased noises. LOL! Yankee tourists!

One other weird bug-related thing occurred, which might be gross, so if you're squeemish, skip the rest of this paragraph. The lady taking money at the farm stand said to someone asking about the bugs that there were mostly stinkbugs in their fields. She added that their workers called them "jumils"(?) and they eat them live in the field by biting off and then spitting out the heads and then eating the rest, when they find them while picking berries. They say that they're spicy. o.O Uh... No, thanks, I'll pass...

My mom will make a cobbler tomorrow. I'm making muffins this evening, and very soon, there shall be PIE as well! *sparkly eyes* There will be pictures, I promise!

6 comments:

Jessica Burkhart said...

I've never been blueberry picking, but I want to try! :)

RaeS said...

:D It was a lot of fun and not at all hard.

La Duchesse said...

Now I know what to get your for Christmas.. :P *scribbles a note to herself* And, no, I'm not telling.

I'm soooo envious. I love blueberries!

RaeS said...

*is very, very curious and looking for clues and cluelessly can't seem to find any*

They are totally yum! I wish they were sendable, but they are very not. :-(

La Duchesse said...

I read that stink bugs are, oddly enough, high in protein and that certain ethnic groups do indeed make use of them as part of a balanced diet. I... think I'll stick with... beans.... *ulp*

Nope, no clues. :P You'll have to wait until Christmas.

I now have an urge to make blueberry something. I wonder if I could contrive to stuff scones with blueberry jam....

RaeS said...

Yeah, I found that out too after looking around a bit online. I just know how they smell and they look *so* weird! Ick! And there's some that have eaten my tomatoes all to pieces in years past, though I haven't seen them this year (*knock on wood*). Beans for me too, thanks...

Hmmm... Christmas is a long way off, but I'll sure try to be patient...

I bet you could contrive scones stuffed with blueberry jam. :D