Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Experience Blueberrience

What do three city girls with newly acquired paychecks (well, two of us are old enough to earn paychecks) do for a rip roaring good time on a wickedly hot Saturday morn in sunny So Cal? Hop in an air-conditioned vehicle and mosey our way north of LA over the Ventura County line for climes less molten, and more importantly, bouts of blueberry picking! Or as my husband characterized our efforts, "So you’re going to pay to play migrant farm worker for a day?" Yes, we were about to embark on a seemingly bourgeois exercise, but so what!

Anyhow, last Saturday was all about that bulbous berry with the purplish bluish exterior and what a Saturday it was. We circled the wagons at Chez Linoleum, loaded for bear with commuter mugs o’ coffee, a chilled cooler ready to accept the bounty of fruit we were sure to procure, a full tank of petrol and super-sized jugs of sunscreen, ready to pay tribute to the traffic gods in order to ensure safe journey northward. Tributes complete signaled an engine at the ready and we were off, traversing the golden landscape adjacent the 101 to seek out a veritable blueberry bonanza at Underwood Family Farms in Somis.

Reminder to self, next time map the directions online before leaving confines of ChezLinoleum…

Um, yeah, the city girls cum farm dames three drove around aimlessly for a while like a car full of directionally challenged, yet sure their direct descendants of homing pigeons, dudes. And fortunately, like many a male who has driven around for hours without the help of a car equipped with a nav system or that of a friendly local gas station attendant, we made it to our destination eventually, in only about an hour door to, um, dirt. Not bad and none too worse for the wear.

Hopping out of our vehicle we were immediately blessed plentiful harvest by the property’s goat overlord…



Now, needless to say, I lack a green thumb. A fuzzy, yarn-encrusted thumb I got. But green? Ahhhh, no. However, I have my moments when the opportunity for harvesting fruit from the bush is seemingly more appealing than spending the day sitting in mi casa, drapery drawn, A/C at max, boo-tay planted in chair beneath heaps of wool, sweaty digits grappling with hooks and needles. Oh yeah, when the thermometer is clocking in at 100 plus, the whole fruit plucking thang in regions frore (okay, not exactly frore, but definitely below 90 degrees Fahrenheit) sounds pretty darn sweet!

The offspring was chomping at the bit to get her hands dirty…



And dirty they became as we ferreted about the shallow bushes in search of budding blue bulbs of sweet joy. Take a look-see at the commemorative montage of the experience…



Montage Legend

Top left to right:
- Transportation out to the fields.
- A day at a real farm definitely beats a day at the Cube Farm. Hands down!


Middle left to right:
- The flower that begets berries blue.
- Before the extraction.


Bottom left to right:
- 3 lbs. of beauteous blueberries!
- Three dirty purple mits.


Dirty digits, slightly disheveled and none too much damage done to wallets we left the farm loaded down with the fruits of our labor to finish off our Saturday with a bit of antiquing (wallets were emptied during this portion of the program), ice tea sipping and burger munching in old town Ventura. What a fabulous way to spend a Saturday! Heaps o’ thanks go out to this chickadee, the mastermind behind Experience Blueberrience.

Thank you Bri for showing Lena and me the way of the berry…

15 comments:

LG said...

Regina, I would have loved sharing last Saturday with you!!! I know about it and I enjoy getting my fingers dirty with the berries! Will you eat them all fresh or keep some for the winter?

Deneen said...

I haven't picked berries like that since I was a kid-yeah, the whole migrant thing goes through my mind when I think of it cause you do know, I live (seriously) in the Blueberry Capital of the World (honest to God, truly and yes, most blueberries come from here). I have an aunt and several cousins who all owned or still own blueberry famrs around here. My mom worked in the packing house as a kid and to this day, will not eat a blueberry.

Bri Ana said...

You are so damn funny...and Lena was so sassy and I think I could have fun with you guys if we were stuck sitting in a emergency room (but lets not test that theory, okay?)

Lets go again right now!

Nancy said...

Hummmmm.

Do I detect the futer addition if a militant migratoy blueberry?

~drew emborsky~ said...

I loved picking blueberries back when I lived in Michigan. So much fun! * One for the bucket, one to eat, one for the bucket, one to eat. * Repeat from * to * until you get a stomach ache or it gets way to bloody hot!

Unknown said...

OH my you where in my heaven. I still have yet to get big bushes thanks to the rabbits... I would have love to go picking blueberries. Looks like a wonderful Saturday!!! Yummy!!

Kare said...

Oh, what fun!
No bear worries or anything...

Nancy said...

Ooops. Shoulda read my comment before I posted....lol

I meant to type: Does this mean there's likely to be a future Militant Migratory Blueberry addition to the VLA??

Crafty Andy said...

Blueberries are great, maybe some manufacturing cream have it whipped and add some blueberries anda great desert!

Blueberrie Cheesecake mmmmm!!!

Jimbo said...

Ah Regina, what a coincidence! My son and his family were at the crick yesterday, picking huckleberries! They got 3 gallons, saw a turkey momma and her babies, heard a cougar scream, watched a doe and her fawn and just had a wonderous time. And i got to go to work. I love my little job but sometimes.....
Anyways if you've never had huckleberries, they grow wild up on the crick and they're a relative of the blueberry, but smaller and a bit more tart. Mom used to make pies of them up on the crick.

Kelly said...

Wow, those blueberries sure look yummy. I'm kinda jeleous. Blueberries grow wild here, but do not get ripe until much later.

What is the story on the goat by the way? Is he pole sitting?

natasha said...

firstly, your daughter is gorgeous! and i don't think many people are, so tell her! secondly, you are gorgeous! you never post photos, i was starting to wonder, but you are sooooo purdy!

i planted strawberries in my little garden a few years ago and at the beginning of the summer it is a berry-rama and i have to crawl around on the ground to get them. they hide. fun though to see where things come from. i also have black raspberries.

if you want any laceweight or whatever yarn dyed, please just ask me..ok? i just did a bunch of sock yarns for a wholesale order, i will post photos soon. soooo purdy. how did i not love color when i was younger? i was so missing out.

Kimberly said...

I loved picking blueberries in the fields by my house growing up! My town even had a blueberry festival at the end of the harvest season to celebrate another good year.....oh the days gone by!!

stuffed said...

Love the pix almost as much as I love blueberries. Thanks for sharing the adventure.

FinnyKnits said...

My gosh - we must gather at my mom's place sometime. I spent Saturday picking 10 lbs of blackberries from the bushes on her property. It was 109 degrees and I was having A BALL! One of my favorite things. Looks like blueberry picking would be right up there, too. Your Saturday sounds divine!