Nana's Blueberries
My very first memory of blueberry picking is at my Nana’s house in Springfield, MA
In one corner of her small backyard, she had 2 large blueberry bushes which she always covered with white tobacco netting to keep the birds from eating the berries. Early in the summer, when the berries were just green, she would call my father.
“Bud, you need to come cover the blueberry bushes with the netting. The birds are getting to them.”
And he would go and put four sturdy stakes in the ground in a rectangle around the bushes and drape the netting high over the tops. I think she would sometimes pay my sisters and I to help her pick but what I remember more is just loving to help her and knowing that she would bake some Blueberry Buckle when we finished. There were always plenty of berries, not only for baking, but for just eating plain and sometimes popping a few in our mouths as we were picking.
Later On
In later years, my parents planted several bushes in our backyard to the far side of the pool, closer to the brook. It was a great location for them and they thrived! I continued to pick berries and by then I was baking Nana’s Blueberry Buckle recipe. They grew so big that my father finally gave up netting them and after that we competed with the birds for the berries. There were so many that most years we didn’t mind sharing but the bushes are old now, my parents are gone and the birds snack on the few berries that the bush produces.
All Grown Up
As the years passed, I married and had my own children. We would go blueberry picking on sunny summer mornings. I didn’t have Nana’s blueberry bushes anymore. We were too far away to pick berries at my parents’ house. But I found wonderful blueberry fields to go to where children were welcome to run up and down the rows, delighting in the simple joys of berry picking. I showed them, no green berries, no red berries, and no shriveled berries. I taught them to only pick the large, ripe, blue colored berries. Then we would go home and bake Blueberry Buckle.
Changes
When we moved from NH to PA, I had to search for a new place to pick blueberries.
I remember walking into the large seasonal vegetable stand to ask about containers. The woman asked to see my license. I told her I just wanted to pick berries. She told me that they needed to hold my license and when I finished they would give it back to me after I paid. I stood in disbelief for a moment, thinking about how different this was from NH berry picking and how far I had come from the days of my Nana’s backyard. Reluctantly I handed over my license. It took all the joy out of my berry picking that day. That was the only time I picked blueberries for the 8 years we lived in PA. Instead, I picked lots of raspberries and blackberries right in my own yard, along the roadsides and in my neighbors back fields. Still, it wasn’t the same as picking blueberries. There is something special about blueberry picking… the breeze that blows through the branches , the sun shining on their smooth green leaves, knowing that I can reach way up, or way down, or put my arm far between the branches with no fear of thorny brambles scratching me.
It's still about the Buckle...
Now, back in NH, I can go blueberry picking again. I have a few small bushes in my yard and I have begun netting them, just as my Nana and my father did with theirs. But they are not big enough for me to only enjoy the berries from them. They are good for a mouthful and even with the netting I still share them with a few birds, chipmunks and even my Labs. But the fields I go to don’t take my license. They don’t tell me where I can or can’t pick. The rows are long, the bushes are tall and the berries are plentiful.
And when I get home, I still bake Blueberry Buckle.
Nana’s Blueberry Buckle
Serves 8-10
2 c. blueberries
½ cup Crisco
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
½ cup milk
2 cups sifted flour
2 ½ tsp. b. powder
¼ tsp salt
Cream shortening and sugar, add egg and beat well.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. Add alternately with milk.
Fold in ¾ c. blueberries. Spread in 11 x 7 x 1 1/2” pan.
Place remaining blueberries on top. Sprinkle with topping.
Topping: ½ c sugar, ½ c flour ½ tsp cinnamon.
Mix together and cut in ¼ c butter until crumbly
Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 min.
Serve warm topped with whipped cream
Or ice cream.
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