Blueberry buckets

When August rolls around, I turn into a bit of a fanatic. The lure of fresh berries from the field turns every week into a new quest. Farmers Markets are perused and pillaged. Plastic and cardboard containers full of Oregon's finest are consumed en masse out of the refrigerator.

Blueberries are usually the focus. A ripe blueberry is a truly wonderful thing - and an annual exodus to any of the nearby U-pick farms is a must. This year, we managed to make it out twice before the bushes were all picked out. Both times, Greer and I met up with my folks in Hood River and headed south into the legendary Fruit Loop that looms along the hills and valleys.

Our target was Gloria's Two Blues farm - which my folks hold as one of the best U-Pick's around. Gloria is a fantastic earth-mom who loves her berries, and grows them large. From the road, you could see the them hanging like grape clusters - a mouth-watering invitation. Unfortunately, she hadn't yet opened for picking during the week, so we had to scuttle down the road to the Browning farm, where things had been picked over a bit. Greer enjoyed the first go-round, carrying his bucket around and showing off its contents...all the while munching away.

Undaunted, I made plans to return the following week - this time with Dave along for the ride. Thankfully, things panned out (after a bit of cajoling - as she still wasn't open during the week), and we were free to pick. To say that these berries were big is an understatement. In some cases, they looked like small grapes - making it easy to harvest in short order. An hour after we arrived, we had raked in over 32 pounds.

Mmmmmm......