The Wallace Visit: Blueberry Pickin'

On Day 3 of the Wallace Invasion as it has become fondly known, we headed out to The Berry Patch in Cleveland, MO, about 15-20 minutes from our house, just over the state line. None of us have ever been blueberry picking before so I thought it would be a nice, Midwest thing for us to do. The whole week we could never get out of the house before 11am, so by the time we arrived, there was an insanely long line of people waiting to pay for their big bags full of beautiful blueberries (read on, and you'll find out why I say that with sarcasm). Who thought so many people would be out picking blueberries on a Tuesday morning? Anyway, we got our instructions, tied our buckets around our waists, and headed out.

Olivia demonstrating proper blueberry picking form. Grasp the bunch of blueberries in your hand and gently detach from the branch.

Steve demonstrating. Of course, he managed to turn it into something gross.

Stevie showing us how it's done.

Our crew of pickers...how many berries will end up in the buckets?

Once we got to our designated patch, we soon discovered that all those crazy people in line had thoroughly de-blueberried the blueberry patch like a swarm of locusts! So a tip from another picker led us to another patch that basically consisted of all the missed and under ripe berries. We still had a TON of fun finding viable berries and swore to find a way to make them into something yummy.

We did use those blueberries several times that week. One morning we had pancakes with homemade blueberry sauce. Another day, we had blueberry waffles. I cooked up a batch of peach and blueberry cobbler that was pure heaven. With the leftovers, I made a few jars of blueberry syrup. Not a single blueberry went to waste!

We were pretty wiped out by the time our picking was done. This is one of my favorite photos of Sarah melting down and Stevie at her side, consoling her. Cousins are the best!