Blueberry U-Pickin’
It wasn’t until this year that Morgan and I realized we have been visiting this one blueberry u-pick farm for 7 years. I’m not sure how Morgan found it. It’s an unusual u-pick. For one, they don’t advertise. Again, I don’t know how Morgan found it, but I’m glad she did. The bushes are 35+ years old. Due to how established the plants are, they require minimal maintenance. The owner, a retired forestry professor, doesn’t spray them, so they are pesticide free - just the way we like it.
On our visit this year, we had a chance to chat with the ole professor. He is a nice fella. He reminisced about the area and how it used to be remote. It used to be farmland all around him. Now, it’s subdivisions. “Old” subdivisions, in fact. He mentioned his great grandkids and how they are at the age where they can pick a few berries. Four generations of his family have picked from these bushes. Considering their health, I’d say five generations shouldn’t be off the table. That is, if they aren’t replaced with a subdivision.
It’s always quiet when we go pick. To get to the bushes you drive up the ole professor’s driveway and through his front yard. Perhaps this is why he doesn’t advertise. He has one sign on the road that says “U-Pick Blueberries”. Morgan and I don’t advertise it either. I think we fear losing it if too many people knew about it. I also wonder if people would even care. Unlike popular u-picks, there are no concessions, no staged photo areas, no bathrooms, and minimal shade. And every time we’ve been, there are no people. Only loads of blueberries - just the way we like it.
If you are interested in visiting this U-Pick blueberry farm let us know in the comments.
Native Wildflowers
I’ve been enthralled with wildflowers lately. Particularly native wildflowers.
(You might wonder “what is the big deal with native this and native that.” Well, let me try and explain how I’ve come to understand it. Native plants are important because over the course of millenniums, they have become an integral part of the ecosystems they inhabit. In the complex web of life, population imbalances are not preferred. You want ecosystems that have diverse, balanced populations of all kinds of plants and animals. Native plants help promote this balance. They host and feed native insects which pollinate native plants, that provide cover for native birds and mammals, that feed the native predators, that spread the seed of native wildflowers in their coats. Plants that are not native to an area are typically very competitive in their new environment. These non-native plants lack the balancing pressures from predators and diseases which would otherwise keep them in check. It’s also likely that they will not fit in well with the local ecosystem’s food-web. The animal life these plants support isn’t present in their non-native environment. This can really devastate the food-web by breaking feeding/nesting/hatching cycles and therefore greatly reduce the diversity of animal and plant life living and thriving in that ecosystem.)
So back to wildflowers. “The Calendar of Firsts” exercise put wildflowers on my radar. And now I’m obsessed. I wonder how long it will last. My daughter wants a flower press. So do I. I’ve started collecting seeds for Morgan’s cottage garden. Native wildflowers will be key to giving it the “cottage” look and feel. It’s going to be epic.
Harvested Onions, Garlic, and Potatoes
We harvested onions, garlic, and potatoes from our little garden. After pulling and digging, we put the crops on a table in the shade on our porch. They sat for a while to cure. I’ll let you know if something goes wrong.
Have you ever grown potatoes? They really do taste different when you grow ‘em yourself. It’s a splendid taste. Earthy, creamy, nutty. I recommend it.
Gardening at Night
This section was written by Raeley Stevenson, a long-time subscriber to The Common. 😍
Tired of having many hot and failed attempts at gardening during the day? Whether it’s the weather or other duties that keep you away, sometimes it’s just hard to care for the garden.
That’s where night gardening comes in. Tuck the kids in bed, grab your flashlight, and head out to the garden! Bonus points if you bring your best friend or if you make it out before the sun goes down! The only downside is that bugs love light, so headlamps aren’t as good an idea as they may seem (ask me how I know). A lantern that you set off to the side works great.
Nighttime is also the perfect time to spot tomato hornworms with a black light! They seem to come out of the ground, working their way up the tomato plant, and eating so much more vigorously at night than during the day. Unlike the green hornworm, brown caterpillars can’t be spotted so easily, so you still have to sweat during the day to find those.
As a modern person with a cozy living room, I totally missed some of the beauty of being outside at night. Just a walk in the dark to the garden is calming. The whole world is so different at night. I’ve found that working in the garden to be such a blessing. It is calming and prepares me for sleep in a way that I completely miss if I stay inside.
Leaf Mold
In the corner of our yard, about 16 months ago, I tossed some bagged leaves. They were packed to the brim. I didn’t really forget about them, but I also kind of forgot about them. This past May, I was cleaning out the early spring plantings from the garden and needed some mulch. May isn’t the best time for finding leaves and so I remembered the bagged leaves I had in the corner of the yard. I knew they had really rotted down. What I found in the bags was more than just rotted leaves, it was a bag full of earthy, sweet-smelling mush. Leaf Mold! If you aren’t familiar with what leaf mold is, it’s simple. It is composted leaves from deciduous (not evergreen) trees and bushes. To make leaf mold, the process needs to be slow and cool. In other words, you don’t want hot compost. This means you don’t want to aerate your leaf compost because that fuels the aerobic (oxygen loving) microbes which produce the heat (energy) that kills the fungi you need to break down the leaves into this luscious, nutrient rich material.
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I would love to know about the u-pick blueberry patch!
I’d like to know!