Blueberry Report

berry picking 2011

August always finds me in the blueberry patch. Almost every year I have written a blueberry report on my blog (read one here). No matter how busy I am, I get myself there for some fresh air, relaxation, and berry picking. It's also an activity that I enjoyed doing with my brother. He would get right in the bushes and make sure that every ripe berry was found! 
This year I went with my daughter and sadly the berries were not that good. This was likely due to the harsh winter, followed by frost damage in May, and a cool rainy summer. But I did manage to get enough for the annual jam making ritual.
I have had many people ask me why I bother with all the work of making my own jam. Truthfully, you really can't beat the taste of a jar of homemade blueberry jam.

And secondly, this sign says it all. I love the mess of canning and enjoy making something with my own two little hands... I can't help myself!

Blueberry Report 2011

It's time for my annual blueberry report. This year I went to the blueberry patch twice...once with my mother-in-law and daughter, and once with my brother and a friend. We enjoyed wonderful visits in the blueberry patch and we picked about 60 pounds of blueberries at $2 per pound!
When we came home I couldn't help myself and made up my first batch of 2011 jam. Half of the jars are pure blueberry jam and half are peach-blueberry jam. We haven't finished our  2010's jam yet, so why am I making more jam when it's probably cheaper, and definately more convenient, to buy commercially produced jams?
Reason #1 - I love blueberry picking! It's a relaxing and enjoyable outdoor activity, and it's quality visiting time with your fellow pickers...especially with my 86 year old Mother-in-law. She is her "best self" when she is blueberry picking, and we enjoy great conversation about her life and her family history while picking. She is a great berry picker, so we now have mountains of berries and I have to find things to do with them...jam, muffins, cakes, cobblers, pies, etc!

Reason #2 - I love blueberries! They are one of my favorite foods and the health benefits can't be beat! I put these 13 bags (each with 4 cups of blueberries) into the freezer for us to enjoy over the winter.
Reason #3 - I love to cook things from scratch. If I didn't work outside the home, I would make all my family's food from scratch.  When I make jam, I know every ingredient that goes into it. 
Fruit is the number #1 ingredient ...not sugar, or other weird ingredients and additives (have you seen this video about "blueberry products" that have NO blueberries?!) I think my jam tastes better and is healthier for us to eat. 
Anybody else out there an obsessive jam maker?!? If you have a good recipe to use up blueberries I'd love to try it!

Canning Efforts

I forgot to give the 2010 blueberry report...these are the baskets that I picked with a friend on one outing. I also went briefly with my daughter, but the mosquitoes were eating her up faster than we could pick the berries, so it was a short visit. (NB...not a single bite on this old girl's tough hide!)
I made a few batches of blueberry jam and one batch of blueberry rhubarb jam that turned out really yummy!
With that success, I tried a peach jam which was very disappointing. The fruit settled on the top and it was too runny and too sweet for my tastebuds.
However, I carried on with my goal of trying new recipes and made some pickled beets. I loved the process of skinning the beets, but I didn't love the taste, so I'll be on the look out for another recipe for my beets next year.
Then I tried a "summer salsa" with jalapeno peppers, red and green peppers, tomatoes, onions, peaches, pears, cilantro, and mint...all of which looked really pretty in the crock pot. It took several hours of washing, slicing and chopping the fruits and veggies to make this concoction.
But after all that work, it only made 3 1/2 jars of salsa, and as you can see, 1 jar has already been eaten! It was a real hit with my family, but I'm still thinking about whether it is worth all that time and effort.
Here is the result of my canning efforts that will be going to storage in the basement this week. I still have to deal with tons of zucchini, a few more tomatoes, and I haven't touched the carrot patch yet.

Sun + Heat = Blueberry Picking

Summer is finally here...better late than never! And with the sun and the heat comes a desire to enjoy the great outdoors. And what better way to do so than picking blueberries! Can you believe that I went to the blueberry patch again?!?  Just look at that perfect blueberry picking sky! If I go to the patch again, I will have to find another place to store the berries because the fridge and the freezer are both full, and my family is getting really annoyed that there is no space for the groceries we need! And they don't want to eat blueberries for every meal!

Today I found a little tiny bird's nest in a blueberry bush. There is netting all around the blueberry patch so this bird must be quite smart to find her way inside. The nest was so beautifully constructed, perfectly circular and so soft and cozy looking inside.

Here is Mama (or Papa?) bird sitting on the nest...do you know what kind of bird this is?!? I'm thinking a Warbler or an Oriole? This was one impressive nest builder!

And to prove that I am not just wandering around blueberry patches looking like a crazed berry picker, my DH took a photo of me enjoying the lovely weather in our backyard and stitching a binding. Just look at those tomato plants behind me...they are doing really well and now with the sun and warm weather, maybe the tomatoes will turn red and we can eat something other than blueberries!

Annual blueberry report

Every year that I have been blogging I have written a midsummer blueberry post and today's the day! If you aren't going blueberry picking today and have lots of time to waste, click here for my 2007 report and click here for the 2008 report. 

I have been out to the farm a couple of times to pick berries in the last week and even though I haven't used up the blueberries in the freezer from last year, I am still picking more. 

Why? Because it's fun and you can never have too many blueberries! My family would tell you I am obsessed with blueberries. So I told them about the Quilting Pirate who even makes blueberry liqueur - read about it here! 

Here is my nephew Andrew who came picking for the first time this year. He liked it for about 3 minutes, and I'm pretty sure that most of the time was spent talking and eating blueberries, not picking them for the baskets! I haven't actually made anything with the blueberries yet, just sorted, cleaned and bagged some for the freezer.

Same thing with sewing... I haven't been sewing much between working night shifts this week, and picking blueberries (and sleeping) during the day. I have been preparing to make the Paper Panache mystery block and decided to challenge myself to paint all the fabrics for this block. I finally have all the colours ready that I need, but still have to paint a little more of the medium blue fabric. 

I can't wait until all the preparation is finished and I can get to the mystery block sewing, while I enjoy blueberry muffins with blueberry rhubarb jam!

Little Miracles

Yesterday was such a beautiful summer day here in Southern Ontario so I took the opportunity to head out to the blueberry farm. Blueberry season is a little later this year and I always go out to pick with whomever I can drag along with me. Last year I took my sister and her girls (see here). I used to make the kids come along when they were younger, but they flatly refuse to come now...too early for teenagers to roll out of bed!
I learned the love of picking blueberries from my mother-in-law. It has always been one of her greatest pleasures in life to pick berries and since she is 84 years old, it is getting harder for her each year. Considering we thought she might die last fall and she spent about 2 months in hospital too weak to even walk by herself, it was a miracle that she could be here this summer to pick blueberries. Here she is, sitting on a stool picking the low berries, and I picked the higher ones. This photo makes me smile because even though it was hot and I was sweating, she has a jacket on so she won't catch a chill! I picked 17 litres of berries and she picked about 6 litres to share with the other seniors in the facility where she now lives.
I find that I am getting more like her every year (shudder) and this year she has convinced me that I can make jam. Now, I come from a long line of domestically challenged women, so if I could actually make a tasty jam, that would be the second miracle for the day!
Secretly I have always wanted to be a jam maker/domestic goddess. I love all types of jam but my husband is very specific about the only jam he will eat (Smuckers Sugar Free). I know he won't eat this stuff because it has 4 cups of sugar in it, but if it turns out to be good, I'm sure the kids and I can polish it off in no time. I just made the refrigerator version since I don't know anything about how to seal/sterilize jars properly (that is next on the list of things I'd like to learn).
And here is the finished product...after hours of work...
ta da...7 jars of blueberry rhubarb jam made from rhubarb in my garden and berries I picked in the morning. My official taste tester told me "the flavour and texture and colour are perfect"!! I was so happy!! It really is a great feeling of accomplishment....unlike sewing borders on quilts!!!

Blueberry Season

This has nothing to do with quilts, but is another one of my favorite things! At this time of the year a lot of my time is taken with enjoying the blueberry season. I have been to pick berries twice this week, the second time with my sister and her two daughters, who have never picked blueberries before. They really enjoyed it (although I am sure that the girls ate more than they picked!) and they hope to go again later in the season. The blueberry farms just opened this week for picking, so it is the beginning of blueberry season here. There will likely be two more good weeks to pick.
The strawberries around here were not good this year, so it was great news to discover that the blueberries are fantastic...plentiful, big, sweet and juicy. I freeze as many as I can each summer so that we can enjoy blueberry muffins, jam, and pancakes in the middle of the winter. I freeze them in bags of 4 cups each, unwashed, and then wash the berries just before I cook with them. Yum Yum!