So here we are back in the land of blueberries--and aren't they lovely scrumptious little things? Let me assure you--they most certainly are! And we should know...we've been munchin' on 'em non-stop for the past week!

Now take a look at the rakes we're holding...not your typical rake, huh. These are small hand-held jobs in varying widths...adaptable to the width of your bucket. I'm so glad that people out there think of such things! We determined to fill up a 5 gallon bucket and that's why raking was our choice du jour!

I wish that I'd thought to take a close-up of the rakes but, alas, I didn't. The closest I got was that one dropped over there on the ground to the right, so I'll just describe them as shaped something like a metal dustpan with the bottom made of small round metal slats or rods with points on the ends (as opposed to being solidly flat--like a dust pan). The handle also went down over the top of the 'pan' part rather than pointing up--like a dust pan. Other than that, it WAS like a dustpan!

Then you'd take your very-similar-to-a-dustpan rake and thrust it into a patch of blueberries--without stabbing them, of course--and pull up through the leaves, brambles, and long grass that was wont to hang on for all they could...up under the plump little berries and ta-da! there they were balancing on your rake ready for dumping into your bucket!

If you got REALLY good at it, you could tip the rake up a bit where they'd roll to the back of the rake and then dive down for another scoop. Caution: Keep rake angled back rather than forward...otherwise all your previous scooped berries will slide right out and disappear into the leaves, brambles and tall grass. How do I know this? Guess!

Here we are with all of our nice berries...this is just the overflow bucket. See all those leaves and grass? We really want those out of there...and this place had the technology. I was SO impressed!

This great contraption 'winnows' out the leaves, sticks, and grass for the most part...

 

Winnowing and waiting...waiting and winnowing...then all of a sudden it left us with this...Beautiful, huh!

 

 

 

 

I also just loved their turquoise painted blueberry crates...a perfect addition to my painted strawberry sign, don't you think?

To top it all off, Karyn plopped down in the grass with the kiddos and read one of our Maine favorites, Blueberries for Sal.

By the way, I just love our homeschool moms...someone always shows up with the perfect icing on the cake! I never fail to be inspired!

That Sunday was also 'Maine Day' which meant that all the state parks were free admission, so for our picnic lunch we decided to go to the state park in Searsport. We heard that it had a nice picnic area next to the beach. We heard right...it was gorgeous! And also had some paths through the woods along the shore and a playground, too! Lovely place...lovely day...I must say!


(Shush! I know my rhymes are corny...just humor me...please)

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