Blueberries - Yummy!!!

When we bought our house 21 years ago, there was only one Blueberry Bush already on the property. It was probably about 10 years old or older at the time. It was sickly and spindly, had so much woody stems and no growth. We might have gotten less than a couple of blueberries, if the birds didn't get to them first that is!

Over the years, I have pruned and pruned and pruned. Even though I would read that you need to have more than one bush in order for good pollination to occur, we just never did get around to  planting any other bushes (until last year and it is still very small).

For the past two years, this bush has produced an abundance of blueberries; big, beautiful, tender, sweet blueberries. Last year, I actually froze 4 gallons of blueberries!!!

This year, the bush is so heavily laden with fruit, I'm pretty sure there will be even more than 4 gallons! Yay!!! If you click on the photo, you can see how large the fruit is already and they still have about a month before harvest.

I'm thinking muffins, pies, cheesecake and an amazing BLUEBERRY ICE CREAM!!!! I'll have to post that recipe soon!

In order to keep the birds from eating all the blueberries, we cover the bush with netting. We started to do that yesterday but for some reason couldn't find the netting. And it started to get pretty windy and that stuff can be a bugger to work with. So my husband has the stakes in the ground and all he needs to do is scout out the netting so we get that covered this week.

We did have supervisors while we were working outside yesterday afternoon!!! Take a look at who thinks they are in charge :)

This is Lucky Boy!!! He's probably about 10 years old now and loves to have a run around the Blueberry Bush after we have the netting around it. He's so funny! We inherited him from my nieces before they moved to Florida. He lives year round outside and loves it!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, and he loves lovin'! Just start scratching his face and ears and you've made a friend for life. I think he was probably disappointed that the blueberries aren't protected yet. Patience Lucky, patience!

Why is it that some dogs do not like looking at the camera? Do you think they know that they are having their picture taken and are a little camera shy? This is Maggie! Maggie is 11 years old and is part Australian Shepherd. She is certainly the smartest dog I have ever been around. She actually taught herself to bring me my slippers! I never even thought about teaching any dog how to do that, but she felt that was something she needed to do.

 Maggie LOVES to garden. I will be pruning dead limbs, pulling weeds, whatever - and she has her nose right in my hand pulling everything out of my hands and throwing it on the ground wherever she wants. (I don't have the heart to tell her that I actually have to clean up the yard twice when she HELPS!) We have even had her carry large tree limbs for us! She really is a hard worker and loves to please. Hey, everyone has to earn their keep around here.

If anyone has any favorite blueberry recipes, would love to have you pass them on. Maybe we can even get a Blueberry Cookbook together. Now, that sounds like a good idea!!!