Like a Blueberry on a Portage

When you are walking in the woods, there is nothing quite as welcome as a patch of wild blueberries.

This year when I was on my annual camping trip with my niece and nephew we happened to be camping during when the blueberries were thick and ripe.

Seth, my nephew and Matthew, my son, accompanied me on a walk across a 640 rod portage from Trout Lake to Pine Lake in the BWCA. We weren't carrying a canoe; we just were out for a stroll. We kept encountering thick patches wild blueberries.

If you've never had wild blueberries you have missed out on one of nature's best treats. The blueberries in the store are much larger, but have far less flavor. At first Seth seemed uninterested in the berries, but after watching Matthew and I greedily pick and eat handfuls of berries he tried them. He was an instant convert. Everyone tried to outdo each other finding the sweetest and biggest berries. Matthew was convinced he could spot them better since he was so close to the ground. He always chided me for leaving too many.

Wild Blueberries occupy a special niche in my mind. There are so many things in life you have to work for. If you have a garden you plant, water, fertilize, and harvest before you eat. Blueberries are different. No one seems to have planted them and no one tends them; you simply have to be mindful enough to look for them. In my experience difficult walks & rambles are almost always punctuated by blueberries just where you need them.