Blueberries for Us

I love Robert McCloskey's book, Blueberries for Sal. We read it every year around blueberry picking time. In fact, I have been in such fear of over-reading it and thus taking it for granted, that I have never purchased it. I check it out from the library every summer. It's one of my weird little rituals. So this year I checked it out and we've read it umpteen times, replacing Sal's name with various Oliver childrens' names. And then on Tuesday we finally went blueberry picking. That is definitely my favorite berry to pick for several reasons.
1. You don't have to bend down.
2. There are no thorns (except in the places where the wild blackberries are trying to take over.
3. There is a lot of shade because of the nature of the bushes.
4. They're so darn good.
5. Antioxidants!
6. I enjoy saying "kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk!" when the kids drop them into their little tin pails.

Okay, so maybe I'm a little weird (a little?). But here are the pictures from this year's harvest.

Here we all are walking down to the field. My sister Carolyn and her two little girls were with us. Notice Hayden looking at the old fashioned truck. He is obsessed with anything with wheels.

I found a good bush to keep Cooper occupied for a while. It didn't take him long to learn the drill. If anyone is wondering how long it takes for a baby to digest blueberries, it is about three hours. Just in case you wanted to know.
After the little kids got tired of picking (about five minutes into it) they played pretend under the bushes. Sometimes I wish I was three.
Turner was just like Sal from the book. Little Turner picked three berries and dropped them in his little tin pail...kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk! He picked three more berries and ate them. Then he picked more berries and dropped one in the pail--kuplunk! And the rest he ate. Then Little Turner ate all four blueberries out of his pail!
They were having so much fun under the berry bushes that they didn't want to leave! (The big kids, on the other hand, were quite ready to go! Party poopers!)
We ended up with ten pounds of berries that we ate fresh, dehydrated or froze. And if they had weighed my kids before and after, I probably would have had to pay for ten more pounds! Can't wait for next year's blueberry harvest!

Next up: Blackberries!