When my boys asked what I would like for Mother’s Day, I told them that I wanted to go pick blueberries. April and May are the time of year here in Central Florida to pick blueberries. So it always falls right around Mother’s Day. It was a beautiful time spending Mother’s Day at the blueberry farm.
One of my favorite places to be is at a farm. When we go on vacation or travel around town, visiting a new farm is always on the list of things to do. Being on a farm, whether it’s an animal farm, fruit and vegetable farm, or flower farm, fills me with so much peace and joy. I get excited about being immersed in God’s creation and seeing the beauty that comes from cultivating His land.
As a homeschooling family, we plan a lot of farm visits into our weeks. Homeschooling affords us the flexibility to have impromptu farm visits and spend the afternoon in nature. But you don’t have to be a homeschool family to enjoy farms. The weekends are a great time to visit and take advantage of you-pick farms. Start by searching for local farms in your area and see what grows well in your area. Give a local farm a call and see if they provide tours or a you-pick experience.
Here are some posts about our favorite farm experiences.
We drove for about an hour after church was finished and arrived at a quaint organic blueberry farm in the middle of the country. We try to visit organic farms when they’re available.
We picked about 12 pounds of delicious blueberries, and the boys probably ate their weight in blueberries while we were there.
Freezing the Blueberries
When we arrived home from the farm we delivered some blueberries to our neighbors. Then, we set out to freeze and store the rest of the berries. We did not wash the berries before freezing them. We removed a few stems and snails we found ctawling around, but it’s not necessary to wash the berries. Especially since we picked them from an organic farm.
We took about one-third of the berries and placed them on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper and laid out the berries on the sheet pans so that the berries weren’t touching each other. After that, we placed the pand flat in the freezer for about three hours. After they were mostly frozen, we double bagged them in freezer bags and placed them back in the freezer. Now, we have fresh frozen blueberries ready for smoothies, baked goods, and all kinds of treats.
The boys are excited to help me make all kinds of blueberry filled treats in the next couple of weeks. One of our favorites is the Blueberry Lemon Sourdough Sweet Rolls.
How do you like to spend your Mother’s Day? Thanks for following along as we set out to enjoy the beautiful day and eat our way through the farm.
For more homemade family inspiration and recipes follow along @homesteadonlakeside
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