Vivian El-Salawy, Pie Bar
I grew up eating just about anything without much thought. Did someone already take a bite out of it? Cool. Did it fall on the floor? Great. Is it edible? Nice.
Note: This is five year-old Vivian speaking, but if I'm going to be honest, I don't think much has changed.
Some of my first memories with food were at my grandmother's home in Oregon. She lived in Beaverton -- a suburb of Portland, and she grew just about anything you could think of. Perks to living in Oregon -- everything seems to grow well and in abundance.
She had a side-section of her garden for mint, rosemary, thyme, basil, dill, you name it. Whenever we'd be making dinner together (often with me sitting on the counter #residentialshortie) she'd send me out to get a sprig or two and I'd run back in and it was like magic.
Right around the corner from her neighborhood was a loooong field, and along the edge of it -- berries. We would pick blackberries and bring them home in the bunches, rinse them, and munch away. Bonuses included dandelions along the path -- she would pick them and make a little flower crown for me.
These memories were really dear to me, and so years later when my family moved to Florida, I was excited when I learned that I could recreate these memories at local U-Pick Farms.
My family currently lives in Gainesville, Florida, and there are so many blueberry farms around us! Most recently, we visited Red, White & Blues Farm in Williston.
Photos by Red, White & Blues Farm
This was such a fun little trip -- for families, couples, or just solo pickers!
On top of the on-site farm store and cafe, one of my favorite things is that the had all of their blueberries sorted by type and flavor as soon as you enter. We took notes of what we thought would taste unique and different, and explore away!
They were pretty busy (which is amazing for them), but being the blueberry-picking hermit that I am, I headed toward the very back of the farm. Less people meant more blueberries to pick from!
Finding some shade to hide from the hot, Florida sun.
You could walk down aisles and aisles and aisles of blueberries -- it truly felt never-ending.
The best part about it all was the after-the-fact. What to do with all of these blueberries?! My family always saved some in the freezer to incorporate into smoothies or future baking. My grandma really liked making jams out of them, or playing around with new recipes for pastries. No matter the use -- never a berry wasted!