On Tuesday morning we went blueberry picking for the first time this year. I promised Bracken that I would take him picking this week. It seems like Jeff and I used to practically live in blueberry fields every time summer came around. I can hardly believe it, but last year we only went one time. This year I hoped Bracken could control the amount of berries he shoveled in his mouth a bit more (because we don’t enjoy seeing him make himself sick) and he did seem a little better than last year. This time was, by far, the easiest blueberry picking we’ve ever experienced in all our years of picking. It’s a good year for blueberries and the branches were completely loaded. (I looked at those blue covered bushes and daydreamed about our blueberry bushes being that large and prolific someday.) We picked over 16 pounds after being there for just a short while. It started pouring on us at the end. I thought it was actually pretty fun picking blueberries in the rain, but it was time for us to get going anyway. After picking your own berries (even when the picking is abundant like it is now), it sure makes you appreciate the flats of pre-picked berries that you buy, in a whole new way. Because you realize a bit more how much work goes into picking that one flat of berries. And that doesn’t even take into account caring for the plants. I have so much gratitude for the local farmers that feed our family.

We have a few different places we like to get blueberries each year and they taste different from each farm. That day, in addition to going picking, we bought some blueberries from our other neighbor as well and he shared some windfall pears and apples with us. He had more than he knew what to do with and while the apples were not exactly pretty, they made wonderful applesauce. At one point in my life I would have looked at a box of apples like that and considered it inedible. Luckily, I’ve learned the magic of applesauce making (and have become a lot less finicky about so many things.) So this week marked the first food we put up for the winter (besides dried herbs and garlic, that is.) Bags of blueberries went into the freezer and then some jars of applesauce too. Yesterday it was dark and rainy and I declared it “applesauce making day.” Bracken loved working the Squeezo. He turned the handle over and over, then rewarded his hard work with spoonfuls of applesauce. I still make applesauce like this, only this time I didn’t bother cutting up the apples, I just did them whole. It worked great and I definitely plan on doing that again next time. The apples were green and made a light colored applesauce. Later we added a handful of blackberries from the backyard, to the next batch, and it added beautiful color and tasted good too. Since I only processed one box of apples, I decided not to do a big canning project that day. Instead I put the applesauce in jars and put them in the freezer (not filling them up all the way, so they have room to expand.) It’s been challenging for us to put much food up for the winter because we don’t have a lot of money to invest in larger quantities of food at one time. So I’ve been thinking about wanting to put a lot of food up for the winter and wondering how to do it. Picking our own blueberries helps with the cost. Windfall apples from our neighbor are greatly appreciated. I want to make a lot of applesauce this year and plan on picking all the free berries available (blackberries and huckleberries) that I can. Yesterday morning, while I wondered about this, I got an e-mail from a sweet gardener not far from us who has an abundance of cabbage this year and wondered if we’d like some for making kraut. We arranged a swap with her, much to our delight. I know that if we trade here and there, grow all we can, and put up bits of food at a time, however much we are able to, that it will add up.

The garden loved all the rain we got this week. This morning I went inside to get a colander to harvest a few things out there. Bracken asked me to bring him out a little colander. He put two peas and a little head of broccoli in his. (Later I looked and saw he had added some blackberries and a few calendula petals.) I harvested the very last of our lettuce, trying to eek out enough for a salad to bring on Saturday. (We’ll be at Saturday Market this weekend, by the way.) Jeff planted more lettuce starts in the garden, but they have a ways to go. Green beans have been slowly making their way into a few meals and Bracken is constantly checking for more. I picked the tops of our basil plants and harvested some collard greens. Jeff recently made the most delicious greens from our garden. He steamed some kale and collards, then slow cooked them with some homemade broth, onions, and mushrooms from our backyard. They melted in your mouth like butter. I think they were the most delicious cooked greens I’ve ever had.

I love stacking rocks. I don’t know why, it just makes me happy. Whenever I’ve gone hiking on trails and seen little stacks of rocks that people have left behind, it makes me smile. And I like to add one of my own to make someone else smile too. Years ago I put little stacks of rocks in various parts of our house. This week I decided to bring them outside instead. I want less stuff and clutter inside (and less things that require dusting) so am moving things like that outdoors. Bracken likes our new stacked rock art around the garden. Our garden needs more of them.

P.S. Because I always get asked everywhere we go, Bracken’s sunhat is from Urban Baby Bonnets. The sun went behind the clouds and then we got rained on, so while we didn’t end up exactly needing it for the sun while we were picking that particular morning, it also worked to keep his head drier when the rain came. It gets a lot of use and we really love it.

P.P.S. On Monday evening we were in our front yard when we looked up and saw a beautiful rainbow. I don’t know about you, but I think they’re lucky.