With a few hot and rainy days behind us, the blueberry bushes are bursting with ripe fruit. Charlotte and Olivia are keen to help me (and themselves) and Juana harvest this new bounty. It’s early in the morning and there is still a little shade on the bushes. We want to get the picking done early as it is supposed to be another scorcher today.
Charlotte leads us into the patch ready to pick (and eat) her share of berries. She is getting better about not eating everything she picks, but the temptation of perfectly ripe berries is sometimes too much to resist. Olivia, on the other hand, is mostly an eating machine deftly picking the lower berries with her tiny, delicate fingers and then popping her bright blue harvests into her mouth.
Both girls today, however, are being very good about not eating too many berries as Juana has promised them any excess berries beyond what is needed for her blueberry muffins. We have 11 bushes and half are loaded with ripe fruit.
Charlotte is perhaps the quickest picker of the bunch as her small hands and fingers can navigate in between bushes and netting easily to grab a berry. I am perhaps the slowest as my large hands and fingers have the opposite effect.
I find my inner child comes out every so often as I pop a few of the ripest, largest blueberries into my mouth. They are perfectly flavored and sweet to the taste. I want more but I need to control myself and be a good example.
We pick nearly a quart of berries and Juana spends her time separating the ripe ones from those that will be ready to eat tomorrow. As promised, the extra berries go to Olivia and Charlotte, who sitting on the front stoop insert one after another into their mouths.
I come by asking for a taste and they oblige me: I grab a few and then leave to start the next morning garden chore.
