Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2017 12:20:45 -0500
From: “N.A. Booko”
Subject: I got my thrill . . .
On Blueberry hill . . . or to be more specific, in Bailey N.C. – Blueberry Country.
It must have been the late 1970s- I hadn’t been in Chatham County that long.
It probably was a June. A feature story on T.V. told about a Blueberry Farm in the eastern part of N.C. and the wonders it held. It told of the remarkable blueberries you could pick yourself at a fraction of the market value. I fell for the pitch.
I can’t remember exactly where Bailey is, but I know it is way past Wilson. i got up very early one morning and drove over there. You could stay and pick as long as you liked and would pay for what you picked. You could eat as many as you wanted for free- and I did- to my regret. I arrived back home about 5 p.m. loaded down with buckets and buckets of blueberries and a few blue berry bushes. Tummy in trouble. Then, what to do with all those berries.
It consumed a couple of days.
Tarts and toast, jelly and jam, pancakes and puddings, cheesecake and juice, juice, juice. Frozen this way- frozen that way. Blue fingers, blue tongue, blew my mind. The trip was not one of my better ideas.
I planted the bushes in the edge of the woods. Didn’t take care of them. Ever so often I would pass by and see some berries and eat a few- but over the years even that stopped. Last week on a walk, I spotted the bushes. They had survived all these years. Hanging on for dear life. And really surprised me that one of the labels was still in good condition- “Rabbit Eye Blueberry”-
Yeah- I did get my thrill on Blueberry Hill . . . Would I do it again? Well, just maybe- If they were Peruvian Blue Berries and it was an all expense paid trip to Peru . . .
N.A. Booko
N.A. Booko lives, writes and gardens in Chatham County, Frequently making digs no one gets or understands.