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Hi Everyone, my name is Stevie and today we're going to be foraging for blueberries. It's July 6th (blueberry season), not the height (of blueberry season) quite yet.
They (blueberries) came a little bit later this season, later than normal and sometimes you get really early seasons and sometimes you don't.
You can see here that we have some unripe blueberries.
blueberries, you're going to be able to tell because they're sort of a white-ish, yellow-ish colour. Sometimes you can get a a white-ish, red (up here).
You can see when the start to ripen they're going to start to look a bit purple until they get to that nice blue colour. You want to see that blue colour when you're walking and hiking.
When we arrived up here we started finding patches of blue. Now, blueberry bushes are going to be quite short so you're going to have to keep your eyes to the ground when walking.
Painted turtles...is it a boy or a girl?
So, a rule of thumb here when picking blueberries is to leave about a quarter of what you found left, at the very least. I usually take about half and leave the rest to grow a good crop next season.
Blueberries aren't seasonal, at least not wild blueberries. You'll get a good crop one season and it may not be the same the next season. It (a good crop) might be over across the hill
instead of over here.
Today, we're going to be picking about half of these and I'll show you afterwards about how much I get from this bush after.
So, we've just finished picking (from this one bush) and you can still see there is plenty left. I have just about (maybe a little less) than a quarter at the bottom of the box that I have but you can still see there are plenty of blueberries left on the bush.
Just a reminder that we're not the only people out here. There are also bears and other wildlife that would love to have a bit of these berries and hence why I leave so many left on the bush. Be careful when you are out walking around and remember to make lots of noise so other wildlife know that you're there too and you don't get scared by them.
Blueberry foraging tips
1) The seasons for picking blueberries vary. It can come early or later depending on a variety of factors such as rain and sunshine.
2) Be sure to leave unripe blueberries on the branches. They are usually white - yellow or white - red in colour.
3) Blueberry bushes are short so you will need to keep an eye on the ground!
4) Blueberries can sometimes grow in different places and not necessarily always in the same spot (over the course of a few seasons).
5) Pick about 3/4 of the blueberries and leave about a quarter of the blueberries on the branches. Bears and other wildlife have to eat as well!
6) Be mindful of your surroundings. There may be other wildlife such as bears in the area so make your presence known.
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