It was about 3 years ago I made the first of many interesting finds here. Something I had loved for years fresh, mostly just from package to mouth, but occasionally in a pie. While walking up the hill behind the house I stumbled across a patch of beautiful green leaves and thought to myself, “Hey, these would be great shrubs. Wonder if they would survive in the direct sun.”
Little did I know that when I would go back up to collect them some 3 weeks later I would find berries on them. Edible berries. Okay, so at first I wasn’t sure if they were edible and I popped 3 or 4 in my mouth, tasted the sweetness, then thought, “God. I hope those weren’t poisonous.”
I quickly disposed of the rest of them and checked my vitals. I am still breathing to this day and now I know I will have fresh wild blueberries and huckleberries (yeah, they’re an actual fruit) to harvest soon.
Michael helped identify the plants I was unsure about for years and now I will have berries for pies, canning and of course the odd smoothie is not out of the question either. Seeing the beautiful bell-shaped blooms on the bushes just feet from the house confirmed that those are truly the same berries I paid $8 a gallon to pick from someone’s farm a few miles away.
Now with time and a little patience, berry pickin’ time is just around the corner. I say, “Bring on the blues.”
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We planted blueberry bushes are part of our landscaping a few seasons ago. Between the birds and the kids, the berries never make it to the door!