Blueberry Picking!

I convinced the girls this year that Labor Day was actually a day off of school so the kids could labor at home...So after spending the morning cleaning and doing much-needed chores, I was doing some online shopping and noticed an ad for blueberry picking. We did not have any other plans and Charlotte was out of school so we jumped in the car and headed out to the little town where the farm was located. 

It was a long backyard the owner had converted into rows of blueberry bushes in buckets. 

We got to work in the corner of the lot next to a fence where it was clear that no one wanted to climb over the bushes to get to the back because the bushes were full of beautiful berries.

Charlotte was a great little picking partner. Hazel would pick a few then ask to sample "just one more..."

Camille was clearly too young to join in but Jari was good to watch over her while we picked. 

Just one more...

Random side note. We parked next to this cemetery with our car on a slight slope (facing forward). I am not great with a stick and I immediately recognized the error I had made. I asked Jari to put it in reverse while I pushed on the car to try to prevent us from rolling into the wall. The result was rolling towards the wall and bruising my leg... It then occurred to me that if I simply engaged the engine in reverse, let it rev up a little using the parking brake, I could then release the brake and drive backward without rolling forward. I tried my theory and of course, it worked out fine. (Inspired thought and plan.) A bruised leg and an experience later, I felt much more prepared to take on the world with my manual transmission. 

Zach got on board and wanted to climb back into our little corner though there was not sufficient room to allow this. He of course was upset and screamed for a bit. Jari took him for a walk while he cried a bit:

But he does have a "reset button" - tractors! He loves them so much that in the middle of a temper tantrum if one drives by and you point it out he completely forgets the point of contention and focuses on the tractor.

And here is a small view of the beautiful countryside.

The yield of our efforts (minus an unknown number of "just one more" that Hazel picked.

Leaving the town where we picked blueberries. It's such a lush, verdant landscape.

In all, we picked 5 kilograms of berries (11 pounds) and paid only 19 Euro (about $23024) $2.00 a pound hardly seems like a fair price to pay given that the blueberries from the store are $4-5.00 for a 6 oz. container ($12-15 per pound) It was a great way to spend a holiday.