Berry Hoarders

When that zombie apocalypse I’ve been predicting comes to pass, do you know who will be ready? Middle-class moms who have decided they want their families to eat healthier, that’s who. If you want to know how to prepare, go hang out in your local berry fields.

I’ve noticed this every time I’ve been berry picking. Yesterday I went out to a blueberry place I tried twice last year without success (they were “picked out” both times I got there). I was anxious and driving fast. “Must. Get. More. Berries.” I needn’t have worried; the bushes were gorgeous and loaded down with berries. They just dropped into your hands. (The moms thought they were a little small, compared to other places they’ve been.)

And, per usual, a few rows over were a couple moms with kids in the 8-12 range. They were picking flats, I mean flats, of blueberries. They were picking enough blueberries for an army.

And as they picked, they talked. “What are you going to do with your blueberries?” one asked.

“I’ll make a couple of pies, but most of them I’ll freeze.”

Then they talked about other fruit they’ve gotten this season. “The strawberries weren’t as good this year. All the rain and cold weather.”

“I used to be one of the regulars at Lodermeiers.” [The Lodermeiers had a famous berry operation that closed down about 10 years ago. The size, quantity, and sweetness of their berries is legendary.]

“Oh, me too. Why did they close that place down?”

“None of the next generation wanted to keep it up, I guess. You have good years and bad years, and it’s a lot of work.”

“I didn’t get many strawberries this year. I got 50 pounds of peaches, though, from this man in Eden Valley. He gets things by the truckload and you can just reserve what you want to buy from him.”

“Really?”

“Yes, a friend of mine knew about it and got me on his list.”

“The cherries have been good this year, did you notice?”

“I got two lugs at the local market. How much were the peaches?”

“Thirty dollars for 25 pounds, straight from Georgia.”

“That’s really good.”

“We got a couple buckets of cherries, too. I set up the kids with the pitter and we just went through and processed the whole lot of them in a couple hours. Pitted, bagged, and in the freezer.”

For the apocalypse, I do hope they have generators, because the freezer going down will be the only thing to stop them.

At another berry farm two weeks ago, I saw some enterprising women splitting up the task. One went for blueberries with the kids while the other hit the raspberries.

Yesterday I found my first mammoth zucchini, and so I started the zucchini bread making (throwing in a few handfuls of blueberries). And that means today I had to start up the basement freezer. Last year there was a mishap and it got unplugged in early December. Usually we eat out of it until spring, when I turn it off. It feels good to tuck in the first few bags of pesto, the zucchini bread, and the berries.

I’ll be using my two bags of blueberries and strawberries in smoothies and oatmeal. Those lucky kids whose moms took this seriously, though, they’ll be eating muffins every day for a year.