I didn’t check the list of “essentials”(as in essential to get out of the house and drive somewhere) but I’m pretty sure blueberries would be on the list. I figured if some over zealous cop pulled me over to find out why we were driving, anybody would classify a blueberry run as essential. I ran out in Feb so we’ve been without ever since. The blueberry farmer called today and said my order for 20 pounds was ready to go. The farm is in Crescent City, about 20 miles north of us and we were ready for a “road trip”. A friend of Nancy’s has a personal lending library in the town of Welaka – near Crescent City – and I had a large collection of books that I had no real need for so we took them up to her. Also one of Nancy’s bridge buddies who we usually provide with greens lives within a few miles so I picked a load of kale, chard, and collards for her. All in all it was a few hour trip just when we were going totally stir crazy.
We’re not supposed to drive unless it’s for something “essential”. It’s not obvious what’s essential – as an example the beaches are all closed except for “essentials”. Walking on the beach, swimming in the surf, or surf fishing are classified as essential. You just can’t put down a blanket or towel and lay on the beach. Luckily for Nancy, Hobby Lobby and Michaels got under the wire because they sell material to make face masks.
We actually ended up with 23 pounds of blueberries – he had over picked and I decided to just get the overage. Last year we bought 20 pounds and I ran out a month or so early so an extra 3 pounds should cover the shortage next year. The issue to be solved was how to get them into the already stuffed freezer. We package them in one pint zip lock bags and we deplete them at a rate of about 2 pints per month – 90% in my morning cereal and a few in the smoothies. Between freezing tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, and greens the freezers are fairly full. We have 2 six cubic foot freezers plus the one in the fridge and at this point I’m not sure we could get another blueberry in but we did. Here’s an interesting piece of trivia – the blueberries took up 2 cubic feet in one of the freezers.
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