Blueberry Picking

Travis and I went this morning to pick blueberries. I had gone picking myself before the kids were born, but I haven't been back since. I tried going last year but the weather made it an unfavorable blueberry season so I was really looking forward to going this year. I wasn't sure how Travis would do, but I thought I would give it a try. They open for picking at 7 am, and it's about a half hour drive from our house. I hoped we could get there early so it wouldn't be too hot. This was one of those times when I was thankful for my kids' early-rising tendencies. Travis came downstairs at 6:05 and said it was 6:30. Not quite, but this morning it was okay. We hit the doughnut shop and we were on our way. Travis was excited to pick blueberries and he did really well actually. He had his own bucket and he picked on and off for most of the time we were there. The mouth-to-bucket ratio was fairly high so his tummy was full of blueberries, but not so much the bucket. He did some singing and exploring and towards the end he found a great patch for us to pick some of the best and sweetest berries.

It isn't easy picking blueberries since they don't all ripen at the same time. A cluster can have one ripe berry and eight that aren't. And the best ones always seem to be highest. But Travis was a trooper and I was really impressed with his patience. (I did quite a bit of prepping on the way to the blueberry farm.)


"Look how many I have Mommy!" Every time he put one in, that's what I heard, followed by a plea to put some of mine in his bucket!

This was his take at the end of the day.

It's curious the way Travis was an example for Christ in the berry patch. Travis would tell me that he was going down to the next patch (really just further down the row) and I told him that he always needed to make sure he could see me, and then he could go as far as he wanted. He would go down and then come back, talking the entire time. The berry bushes make it difficult to see through to other rows, but we could hear the other pickers. We heard a voice from a few rows over saying, "What a sweet boy! He's so polite and helpful." And she was referring to Travis! He was singing Bible songs and reciting his Bible verses and we heard the occasional chuckle in response. My favorite was, "Mom, I am going down to the next patch. No, I want to stay with you. Where you go, I will go. Where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God, my God." He was quoting the book of Ruth! I laughed so hard and he grinned the cheese ball grin I love.

On the way home we had to stop back at the doughnut shop to give our favorite doughnut lady some blueberries from Travis' stash. He did eventually cover the bottom of the bucket, but there were a few less-than-ripe ones in the mix. And he wanted to give her some. Four blueberries in fact. It was too funny! She loved it, and we got a bag of doughnut holes in return!