EVER SINCE my driveway has been lined with blueberry bushes, blueberries have been one of the lures I count on to make sure my grandchildren love their grandma.
If I ask them what they want for breakfast, the answer is always blueberry muffins, streaked with blueberry juice that bubbled out of the top and sprinkled with extra sugar.
And if I ask them what they want to do in July (other than go to the beach), the answer is to pick blueberries and munch on the tasty blue candies as they go.
The bushes, about 20 years old, are about as old as the oldest grandchild, and now the toddler loves picking blueberries and eating muffins, too.
I don't recall that I or my family ever got in a fever over blueberries before Pungo Blueberries, Etc., opened in Virginia Beach about 25 years ago. Then owners Robert and Juanita Burns introduced many Hampton Roads residents to the joys of picking and eating blueberries at their farm on Muddy Creek Road.
If all produce harvesting were like picking blueberries, farm labor wouldn't be a problem. Picking the firm morsels is about as easy as it gets. Roll your fingers over the berries, and ripe ones will just fall into your hand.
The neighborhood children - and my grandchildren, when they are here - love to pick the blueberries along my driveway. The older children teach the younger ones how to let the berries roll off into their hands, or into buckets or bowls. The children know that if you have to pull the berries off, they are probably not quite ripe.
They will stop to nibble a few as they pass the bushes, or they'll run over with a cup to fill, just enough for their mothers to bake a batch of fresh muffins.
Of course, the birds love them, and I see adult birds teaching their fledglings how to get in the bushes and get their fill, too.
Growing your own
I purchased my Rabbit Eye blueberries a couple of decades ago from Pungo Blueberries, Etc., and the Burnses still sell Rabbit Eyes, the variety they think grows best in South Hampton Roads. The couple will tell you that to have great berries, you need acidic, well-drained soil and lots of water and sun.
Other than fertilizing them and pruning them in late winter, blueberries don't require much care. Mine have never had quite enough sun, but they still produce enough berries for the children and the birds and for my muffins and blueberry jam. I call it driveway jam and give it to the neighbors for the holidays.
I save any unused berries by adding them to a plastic bag in the freezer until I have enough to make jam and, if I'm lucky, winter muffins.
Blueberries require no preparation for the freezer, and frozen ones do well in any cooked recipe.
Of course, after discovering the power of blueberry muffins, I no longer wait until my blueberries ripen. If I run out of frozen ones, I'll buy them as soon as they arrive in stores.
Call ahead to find out opening dates and closing dates and to check on picking conditions.
College Run Farms, Alliance Road, Surry. (757) 294-3498 Hours 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily Blueberries, sweet corn and other vegetables.
Drewry Farms, 541 Strawberry Lane, Wakefield. (757) 899-3636 Hours 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily from early July through August.
Pungo Blueberries, Etc. 3477 Muddy Creek Road, Virginia Beach. (757) 721-7434 Hours 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday until the blueberries are all gone.
Williams Blueberry Farm, 18113 Harris Road, Franklin. (540) 293-8699, (317) 750-0037 or (757) 562-5978 Open sunup to sundown daily from early July through the middle of August. Pick your own blueberries Call ahead to find out opening dates and closing dates and to check on picking conditions.
Email us your favorite location for the map:
Mary Reid Barrow, barrow1@cox.net
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