Cloudy Blueberry Picking

It's July. We're in Oregon. It's time to do some blueberry picking. Past summers I remember sweltering temperatures while picking and it always seemed like it was something you did in the heat. This time we chose a cloudy, somewhat cool day and it was absolutely perfect. Not to mention, blueberries become much more photogenic when the sun isn't glaring down.

It's remarkable how different the blueberries taste; each different kind of bush has its own distinctive taste: sweet, tart, acidic, less sweet, herby, nuanced…. I went tasting one bush, and then another, and then another until I found the perfect one. I settled on "Toro" - that one had huge berries, impossibly large they almost seemed. And I picked my bucket full and ate quite a few too. Because what would be the fun in picking and not trying every fourth berry or so, just to make sure they weren't getting any tarter as I moved along.