Endless patches of scorched earth are always our first sign of spring in Downeast Maine! The blueberry barrens are burned to destroy weeds and unwanted plants that would crowd Maine's famous wild blueberries. The berries are tiny and incredibly sweet.....soooo much better than cultivated! In time, the fields will be a mass of tiny delicate flowers and crates of bees will be brought in to pollinate the new plants....but not just yet. It snowed this morning!
Friday, March 26, 2010
A Sure Sign of Spring!
Endless patches of scorched earth are always our first sign of spring in Downeast Maine! The blueberry barrens are burned to destroy weeds and unwanted plants that would crowd Maine's famous wild blueberries. The berries are tiny and incredibly sweet.....soooo much better than cultivated! In time, the fields will be a mass of tiny delicate flowers and crates of bees will be brought in to pollinate the new plants....but not just yet. It snowed this morning!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
I remember the first Quebec berries coming into the markets in the 1970s and wondering how differently delicious they could be from the cultivated kind. In England there is a berry, indigenous, called the bilberry, that is like a small blue berry and much more flavourful than the blueberry that has taken over mass marketing. Every time I go back to my home town I hunt for local bakers still making bilberry pies - small, individual sized pies of flaky pastry crusted in sugar and leaking purple juice. In this house, we eat tons of blueberries straight out of the carton.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that about burning the blueberry bushes! Can not wait for Spring to get here!
ReplyDeleteBut who can complain with a gorgeous (albeit cold!)day like today?! I think we're off on a drive through the mountains!
Happy weekend!
joan
Ah, the snow that will not be stopped by the calendar. Here in the middle tundra, snow (have you ever had thundersnow? That's a true force of nature) has a very fickle sense of humor. The weather here has taught me patience. I think my mother would say, "Well, finally something did." Love blueberries. Suppose to be brain food. Mine, however, isn't getting larger with the regimen.
ReplyDelete...catching up on the road south!
ReplyDeleteBlue ~ I so enjoyed your anecdote of bilberries from an English childhood. We lived in London for one blissful year, but sadly never experienced the luscious pies you describe! I so love the way our barrens progress from burned to blossoms and berries, and finally, an exquisite claret color in autumn that is almost otherworldly.
Joan ~ I do hope you did not get caught in the torrential rain we just experienced on our drive south...and that your trip to the mountains was enjoyable. Happy Spring!
Patricia ~ We have, indeed, experienced thunder snow, but not very often. I have long since stopped waiting for spring as we have "mud season" instead and the rain from the last few days promises a truly spectacular muddy mess! We are on our way to see JCB for Easter ....and Washington is glorious at this time of the year! :-)) I think your blueberry diet is working very nicely....