Summertime and the livin' is freezy....

Last week we headed out to Butler's Orchard in Germantown, MD  for some blueberry picking.  We have some other favorite pick-your-own farms but we'd never been to this one.  There were three of us ladies and three little girls in tow.  When you arrive there is a nice country store (big) where you can buy all kinds of jellies, gourmet foods, canning supplies and produce.  I liked it, but it was a bummer that they sold produce from Mexico mixed in with the locally grown stuff.  If I wanted produce from Mexico I would drive half a mile to Safeway! Once you check in there you can drive your car up and park.  (The farm is HUGE so there's no walking around).  We were a little nervous when we saw big groups and tractors.  Initially, it had a "staged" feel.  Not at all like the isolated, rural farms we were used to.  If you don't bring your own containers you can buy their buckets for $1.50 (Or was it $1.25?).  They are great buckets and have been useful around the house, especially when going back and forth from our own garden.  

We boarded the tractor and rolled our eyes a little as the rest of the crowd shuffled on.  The kids, of course, loved it.  It killed us when the teen chaperones actually led us to our picking spot (it felt like a theme park) and even told us where to start picking! But, once we were left alone, everyone spread out and it actually became peaceful.  Once you're picking your own food everything in the world just seems right.  It truly amazes me that the earth just can't help itself - it has to produce.  The berries burst whether we like it our not and what a BONUS that it's all for us humans.  How cool is that??  

Speaking of bonuses, while the setting wasn't exactly pastoral, it surely is family friendly.The outdoor restrooms are also super-clean and have plenty of sanitizer. When you arrive back at the lot you pay for your berries ($2.29 a pound - YIPPEE!!)  I hauled off 8.3 pounds.  Anyone who is buying blueberries at the store this summer knows that this is a steal. We put our berries in the car and headed to the picnic tables.  It really is pretty and lots of the groups were gone.  As a matter of fact it had gotten pretty quiet.  There is a nice playground and for the kids the highlight by far was the SLIDES.  I have to admit, they were fun.

At home, I made a blueberry pie as our reward, put the kids to bed and started the real work

... putting up the berries.  The research I have done over the past three years is finally being put into practice this summer.  Once you become a locavore the reality of winter starts to mean something entirely different that it did before.  Winter = no summer produce.  You're probably thinking "Well, DUH!"  But, that doesn't stop the average consumer from loading up on California blueberries and strawberries all winter long, right?  Well, that's where I make my departure.  When you strive to eat locally you are doing a number of things a few of which are listed below:

• retaining the maximum nutritional value of your food (the longer it's off the vine, the more nutrients it loses)
• reducing the amount of fuel used to get the food you want to your plate (California is 3000 miles away, remember?)
• supporting the economy in your local community
• retaining the maximum taste of your food (for the same reasons as above)
• getting to know the people who feed you and where your food comes from 

So, I'm giving it a try.  I invested in a vacuum sealer which can freeze food safely up to five times as long as regular freezer bags.  Does that mean you need one?  Absolutely not. I put peppers (all colors, sliced) in freezer bags last year.  I pushed most of the air out, sealed the bag almost all the way across, stuck a straw in the last remaining gap in the bag, sucked all the air out and... bingo!  We just ate the last of the peppers the other day.  You will get a fresher product with a vacuum sealer, though, no question.  So back to the berrries...

I picked over the berries and discarded ones that were "funky".  Then I placed a sheet of wax paper over a drying rack (like for cookies) and spread out 3-4 cups of berries.  The rack went into the freezer for several hours (you can put them in there overnight, too).  This is a key step if you don't want your berries in one big blob.  You may have seen the acronym IQF.  This stands for "individually quick frozen".  Frozen shrimp are done this way.  Once the berries are firm, you can put them in your freezer bags or vacuum sealer bags.  The nice thing is that you can pour out only what you want to use.  You don't even need to thaw blueberries to use them in lots of baked goods (including pancakes!)  So easy!  I put up 10 cups of blueberries and also froze 4 dozen blueberry muffins.  The rest of the blueberries kept nicely for 10 days in the fridge and we ate them daily!

While I have just gotten into canning, I decided that I didn't really need any blueberry jam or the like so freezing was the plan.  Freezing is definitely an easy way to get into food preservation because it's slightly less intimidating than canning.  I froze bunches of asparagus (which only has a short, springtime run) for use in quiches, soups, etc.  I also froze (and canned) a load of strawberries and also snap peas.  Now, what to do when my basement freezer space runs out............