Blueberry artistry at the farmers' market, and lacrosse

27 June 2015 • A few days after the summer solstice

We walked over to Shields Elementary this morning for the farmers market. Traffic heavy but moving.  Some folks headed to buy all kinds of fresh vegetables, meats, baked goods, eggs, coffees and tea and so much more. Other folks - young families- with daughters and friends headed to lacrosse games as part of the Beach Blast Lacrosse Camp.  The sounds of whistles blowing and girls shouting with each goal scored made my ears feel good and curled the edges of my mouth upward.

I kept my eye out for Bennett's stand.  Blueberries and peaches. Delaware's colors.  The blue berries are on like mad.  Henry Bennett told me that with all the rain we've been having and cooler days, the peaches are taking a little longer to ripen. "A couple more weeks," he told me.

But the blueberries.  They're bursting.  Henry said the family has eight acres of blueberries, five varieties, 5,500 plants and right now they're ripe and loaded. "We cut back a fair amount of the woody stuff on the plants and that makes plumper and larger blueberries. It's a great time to come down to our farm and pick.  Easy picking.  Just put the bucket around your neck and pick off clumps with both hands."

So here's the way to freeze blueberries that you pick right now at their peak. Clear a shelf in your freeze.  Spread a layer of the berries on a cookie sheet. Put them in for a few hours and when they're solid with flavor and cold, and you're contemplating the bounty of the earth when humans work in harmony with nature, take them off the cookie sheet and put them in large baggies. Repeat, repeat, Phillip Glass, repeat.

Bennett's orchards are in southeastern Sussex, near Frankford.

Henry bagged up a few pints for me, and he was reflecting too.  Dylan came to mind for him.

"With eight acres of berries and all the bushes full, we're literally tangled up in blue."