Blueberries for Eli

On Saturday, Eli and I made our way out to a local, organic U-Pick farm to pick blueberries. It was hot, but we knew it would be and were prepared to sweat.

We hit the peak of the season. The blueberries were beautiful and plentiful.

And they tasted delicious, right off the branches. We were told when we got there that they don't charge for the berries you eat...wrong thing to say to Eli at snack time.

Every time I turned around, he was popping a few more in his mouth. Picking and eating...

...or just eating right out of the pail. He took full advantage of sampling and tasting as he went.

Think of it as quality control. I was honest when we went to weigh our berries and fessed up to an additional pound of berries in his BELLY. They held true to their word and did not charge us for them.

Eli quickly got the hang of berry picking...

and learned to look for the big, plump, dark blue ones.

Always seeking out the perfect berry.

We weren't sure how many blueberries we had or how many we should pick,

and it was hot! We decided to call it quits when our bucket was about 1/2 way full. I was so afraid to pick more than we would be able to use, but once we got home and sorted them out into cup-sized portions to be frozen, I realized quickly that we didn't pick enough. We've already gone through half of what we've picked making blueberry pancakes and this little treat:

Easy Blueberry Cobbler(<--- linked to the recipe. THANKS for the tip, Jill!) This was so delicious, that our dinner guest last night, Fr. Chris, said that one of the ingredients must be "magic!" It was indeed that good and is surprisingly almost finished already. Bottom line: I need more blueberries!!!! I think we will be headed out to pick again (at a different farm) this week. I want to make that cobbler for the 4th of July weekend and still have more for snacks and other fun treats. This time, I'll know what to expect and how many to pick. Watch out blueberry bushes....Eli and I are coming back for seconds!