He Sowed She Sewed

Berry picking up north has been astounding.

Tom was our fearless guide and picking expert.  He was the one who selflessly invited us into his wonderful world of blueberry picking, cleaning and eating.  Thanks Tom, your secret is safe with us.

Up here everyone has their secret patch of blueberry woods passed on from generation to generation.  You will see random cars parked on the side of remote roads this time of year, and you know that they are berry picking.  They have walked who knows how long into those woods to get those little goodies and you better not go and bug them.  Things  you don’t inquire about up here:  Where you caught those monster walleye and where people go to pick their blueberries.  You just don’t do it, and if you do, you’re sure not to get a straight answer.

heading out to the special spot

For most people around northern MN this is old news, but for those of us who have never before picked a blueberry- here is the rundown.

Tom called his style of blueberry collecting “dirty picking.”  Rather than picking single berries, you place the long pan on the ground and then bend the branch over the pan and run your hand along the branch- making the berries fall into the pan.  The advantage of picking berries with this method is it maximizes the number of berries you can pick in a given amount of time, thus minimizing the pain of mosquitos, heat, and crawling along the forest floor.

You can clean the berries by rolling them down a bumpy board.  The berries roll down the board and into a waiting box while the sticks, inch worms, leaves and dirt stays on the board.

We feel so blessed to live here, to be able to pick these scrumptious berries and to have our freezer stocked until next years picking season.

Tags: blueberry, blueberry picking, picking, wild berries, wild blueberry picking