Blueberry Picking

Just outside of Lilydale, a short distance from Launceston is a pick-you-own blueberry farm. It is a moderate size planted on a gentle slope with some picturesque mountains surrounding. I have been coming for years and always pick the week before school goes back here and that seems to strike the height of the season just right.If I can I like to pick a day that looks like it just might rain, but we haven't had any of those lately.

This is an organic farm and you will find many kinds of ants, frogs, bugs etc all living in balance, and that's a beautiful thing, but some preparation for this makes the picking more enjoyable.

Wear sand shoes or boots to avoid ant bites, especially the Jack Jumpers. Roll on some insect repellent and make sure you apply sunscreen and where a wide brim hat, because it will take about an hour to pick two buckets (about 6kg). I wear a shirt with sleeves too for sun and also to protect from scratches from the branches. They are not thorny but the best berries are in and under as a lot of people harvest the easy outside.

Blueberries at the height of season are easy to harvest because all or most of the berries on each bract are ripe and ready to just fall off into your bucket with some subtle finger rolling. At $5/kg this is very pleasurable easy and cost effective entertainment for a family day out. It's so nice to hear children talking and laughing along the rows.

Another few km along the road heading back into Lilydale is the the Lilydale Falls Reserve which is an ideal spot to stop and have a bbq. I used to take the children here a lot in Winter time too to get them out into the fresh air and whooping it up in all the dried crunchy leaves from Autumn.

Our freezer is full so I have bottles the blueberries. About 4.5kg will do 8 Fowlers jars, #31. We stopped into an antique store in Lilydale and the lady in their who makes Jilly's Jams suggested Blueberry and Red Pepper Chutney. I found this recipe that I thought I might try