My mom was a blueberry picker and she used to drag us kids out to pick wild lo bush blueberries. Most true berry pickers avoid the domesticated high bush berries. Yes, the high bush are much larger and easier to pick, but the flavor is nowhere near as good. Most locals regard them as "blue grapes" better than nothing but definitely not a substitute for the "real" wild low bush ones. Where I grew up in southern Maine there were also wild high bush berries but they were rare and usually only grew in wetlands.
I was the only one in the family that acquired the interest in picking although not her clean picking technique. I tend to use the bear approach, find a good patch, sit down and grab clumps along with green ones and leaves plus other trash then clean them afterwards when I get home. I pick real wild Maine blueberries, the ones folks see in the stores are technically wild Maine blueberries that are heavily managed with newer producers switching to techniques used for cranberries, they are still technically low bush berries but starting to be less wild.
I go for wild patches and the best patches are on rocky open areas and summits. Blueberries thrive in acid low nutrient soils that tend not to support other growth and mountain top regions fit the conditions. I run into plants everywhere and enjoy grabbing a few for quick snack but my favorite placeto pick is over in western Maine on a large lump of granite called Rumford Whitecap. The berries only really grow on the top so its 2 mile hike up the mountain. I go there most years around this time of year and some years they are great and some years not so great. We have had a long stretch of rain and I hadn't made it over this year so I decided to check it out yesterday. I got an early start to take advantage of the cooler temps in the AM as blueberry patches are inevitably sunny with no shade.
Wild low bush blueberries are like apples, they hybridize so any field will have thousands of distinct plants that all thrive on different conditions. Nevertheless, they tend to sort out into four or five major types, Not every year has all types but I found 4 out of the five and in abundant quantity. I carry containers in backpack and generally if I can fill two one gallon containers I am happy. I filled the two in less than an hour moving no more than 100 feet. The plants have small green leaves (some folks make tea out of them) but in good year they will be blue with blueberries. The plants on occasion will have so many berries they are flat to the ground as the plants can hold up to the weight. I carry a wide shallow plastic bowl and gently lift up a plant and place it over the bowl than rake the berries with my fingers. The ripe ones fall off into the bowl (along with some debris) and I repeat. Once the bowl is full, I fill my containers. Picking was so good I picked another gallon zip lock bag. I also consumed a fair share as its fresh plump berries off the plant are hard to beat. BTW each variety has a distinct taste but once they are mixed together and cleaned they get a far more uniform taste. The processed maine berries tend tobe less hybridized than the truly wild mountain versions. After about 2 hours with a half hour enjoying the 360 view off the summit I headed down. I now have three gallons of berries to clean and that should last four of 5 months of berries on my breakfast. I may bake a few muffins but normally use the bagged variety for pies as a pie really eats up a lot of berries.
Rumford Whitecap is on the southern end of a large valley whose only claim to fame was the Telstar ground antenna location. Young folks may be clueless about Telstar but as kid of the sixties, it was as high tech as it gets, the site of the first transatlantic TV broadcast and transatlantic satellite telephone ground station. There used to be a big inflatable dome and visitors center but now it is just a collection of a small satellite dishes with all remains of the dome and visitor station removed. The location was selected as the valley had almost no development, it had a hand crank phone system up into the seventies with a ring of mountains around it to block out interference from the surrounding region. The Appalachian Trail runs along the north rim of the valley and another lesser known but possibly soon to be famous mountain forms the SW end. That mountain, Plumbago Mountain, previously known for small strikes of various semiprecious gem grade minerals like touramalines, beryls and amethysts is now recently known as the site of a potential multibillion dollar deposit of an unassuming dull quartz looking mineral that happens to have one of the highest concentrations of Lithium in the world.https://time.com/6294818/lithium-mining-us-maine/.
I then took a casual drive back home over backroads. It is nice to be retired and be able to go do what I want.
I was the only one in the family that acquired the interest in picking although not her clean picking technique. I tend to use the bear approach, find a good patch, sit down and grab clumps along with green ones and leaves plus other trash then clean them afterwards when I get home. I pick real wild Maine blueberries, the ones folks see in the stores are technically wild Maine blueberries that are heavily managed with newer producers switching to techniques used for cranberries, they are still technically low bush berries but starting to be less wild.
I go for wild patches and the best patches are on rocky open areas and summits. Blueberries thrive in acid low nutrient soils that tend not to support other growth and mountain top regions fit the conditions. I run into plants everywhere and enjoy grabbing a few for quick snack but my favorite placeto pick is over in western Maine on a large lump of granite called Rumford Whitecap. The berries only really grow on the top so its 2 mile hike up the mountain. I go there most years around this time of year and some years they are great and some years not so great. We have had a long stretch of rain and I hadn't made it over this year so I decided to check it out yesterday. I got an early start to take advantage of the cooler temps in the AM as blueberry patches are inevitably sunny with no shade.
Wild low bush blueberries are like apples, they hybridize so any field will have thousands of distinct plants that all thrive on different conditions. Nevertheless, they tend to sort out into four or five major types, Not every year has all types but I found 4 out of the five and in abundant quantity. I carry containers in backpack and generally if I can fill two one gallon containers I am happy. I filled the two in less than an hour moving no more than 100 feet. The plants have small green leaves (some folks make tea out of them) but in good year they will be blue with blueberries. The plants on occasion will have so many berries they are flat to the ground as the plants can hold up to the weight. I carry a wide shallow plastic bowl and gently lift up a plant and place it over the bowl than rake the berries with my fingers. The ripe ones fall off into the bowl (along with some debris) and I repeat. Once the bowl is full, I fill my containers. Picking was so good I picked another gallon zip lock bag. I also consumed a fair share as its fresh plump berries off the plant are hard to beat. BTW each variety has a distinct taste but once they are mixed together and cleaned they get a far more uniform taste. The processed maine berries tend tobe less hybridized than the truly wild mountain versions. After about 2 hours with a half hour enjoying the 360 view off the summit I headed down. I now have three gallons of berries to clean and that should last four of 5 months of berries on my breakfast. I may bake a few muffins but normally use the bagged variety for pies as a pie really eats up a lot of berries.
Rumford Whitecap is on the southern end of a large valley whose only claim to fame was the Telstar ground antenna location. Young folks may be clueless about Telstar but as kid of the sixties, it was as high tech as it gets, the site of the first transatlantic TV broadcast and transatlantic satellite telephone ground station. There used to be a big inflatable dome and visitors center but now it is just a collection of a small satellite dishes with all remains of the dome and visitor station removed. The location was selected as the valley had almost no development, it had a hand crank phone system up into the seventies with a ring of mountains around it to block out interference from the surrounding region. The Appalachian Trail runs along the north rim of the valley and another lesser known but possibly soon to be famous mountain forms the SW end. That mountain, Plumbago Mountain, previously known for small strikes of various semiprecious gem grade minerals like touramalines, beryls and amethysts is now recently known as the site of a potential multibillion dollar deposit of an unassuming dull quartz looking mineral that happens to have one of the highest concentrations of Lithium in the world.https://time.com/6294818/lithium-mining-us-maine/.
I then took a casual drive back home over backroads. It is nice to be retired and be able to go do what I want.
