On Wed, 21 May 2014 16:40:38 -0500, George Shirley >
wrote:

>We hied off to a pick-your-own farm this morning and came home with
>nearly nine lbs of blueberries. Picking were slim as there has been no
>rain lately and it appears that the farmer hasn't been running his drip
>irrigation system lately.

We've been a week without rain after a very wet early spring. I hope
it's not a repeat of last year.

Your climate is two to four weeks ahead of ours, looks like.

Our container-grown blueberries sitting on the deck are finally
earning their keep. I picked a few ripe ones off "Jellybaby"
yesterday and they're bigger than the rabbiteyes we have planted in
the orchard. None of the berries in the orchard are quite ripe yet. I
hope we have enough to make jam this year without having to buy any.

Oh, and we picked two (count 'em) TWO ripe dewberries day before
yesterday! I didn't see any others starting to turn yet.

>All rinsed off, green berries and stems tossed, sitting in the big
>colander to partially dry. Tomorrow I will blanch the berries and then
>can them in quart jars for use in pies and cobblers later. Got to make a
>run to get some more Clear Jel, appears I don't have enough on hand.

You're canning the blueberries whole? Do you use syrup, juice or
water? I think UGA had a method for all three but I've never canned
them whole and wouldn't know which was best. I usually just make jam
out of them.

>No more room in either freezer. Seems I hit a sale on rib eye steaks
>recently and they took up the space in the freezers. Golly, what a problem!

Ha! We should all have such a problem. Well, I'll help you make room
in the freezer. Throw one more of those steaks on the grill and I'll
invite myself over. :-D

>George

bluechick