There Are Blueberries Everywhere

The farm/ranch next to the blueberry farm was for sale.  I had convinced H. that 'we could buy a property and you could live there.  You would 'work the farm' all week and Dad and I would be here on weekends.  We could raise chickens, grow berries for 'u-pick' business, maybe alpacas and a cow or two'.  He seemed mildly interested -

H. wants a 'fresh start' somewhere.  His friend (who moved to Texas) seems pretty set on enlisting and H. doesn't want to.  He wants something 'new'....and I am sort of feeling that way myself.  I try to help him see that life is always full of possibilities and opportunities.  It's such a gift to have so many options - I try to get him to focus on the options.  He's having a hard time - unemployed again and moving back home.  It will all work out -

Last night, I decided to attempt blueberry jam.  I went to the store to get pectin...and went when I was hungry and came home with (also) potato chips, Cracker Jacks, a chocolate croissant (there were two but I ate one last night); G2 Gatorade (grape!) - it's my new 'favorite' drink; and one box of pectin.

I watched You Tube videos to learn how to do it and wanted to do the 'simple' version - refrigerator/freezer jam.

First, I had to clean the blueberries.  J. used the 'pick each one off the bush carefully one at a time' method.  He wasn't all that fast about filling his bucket - but it got the job done.  H. and I used the 'find a branch with a lot of berries and just run your fingers down the bunch and pull all the berries off'.  Works great for speed.  Not so great on the other side - cleaning the berries.

We have no strainer with holes large enough to allow the stems and leaf pieces to go through - so I settled for filling a huge bowl with water and stirring the berries round and round.  Most of the stems and 'dirty pieces' float to the top - then I'd use a strainer to 'scoop' out the pieces.  This took FOREVER and even then, I still had to remove the berries in small batches, double check for pieces....it was a long evening.

I followed the directions on the box of pectin and ended up with three plastic containers full of jam.  When I went to bed last night, I was pretty convinced they weren't going to set correctly (something that has happened before in my attempts to make jam) - but this morning, the jam is set pretty nicely and I feel accomplished!

As we finished picking berries yesterday, I commented 'you know, if we really were growing our own food and being self sustaining, we'd be a lot skinnier - 'cuz it's a huge workout to harvest the food'...and last night, it was a huge amount of work to clean and cook the food.  And I still have two huge bags of berries to clean today!  I think I will clean and dry them, then bag them and freeze for future use.

Let's just say owning a farm and growing our own food doesn't seem nearly as attractive this morning as it did same time yesterday morning!  Not that it wouldn't be fun - I remind myself 'well, it would be different if this was all you had to do all day, everyday.  If farming were my life, I would fill my days taking care of animals and gardens and making jam would be a part of my 'job' - not something I attempt to wedge in among the other things that fill my days'.

Still, it might be an annual event - a 'u-pick' extravaganza once a year.  A berry-palooza once a year.

The berries are cleaned and drying this morning - J. is vacuum sealing them for the freezer.  I might save enough for pancakes tomorrow morning and maybe a coffee cake for breakfast at work on Monday.  Maybe.