Today I felt like taking a little adventure. What could be better than a morning drive in the country and then stopping to pick some blueberries!

When I went to the Organic Food and Film Festival last month, I hooked up with one of the local certified organic farms near Ocala where I learned that I could buy or pick my own berries. I am a fan of blueberries and like them by the handfuls, in smoothies, or baked into cobblers, muffins and breads. I have an especially yummy blueberry grunt recipe that I am talking myself into making for this evening. This morning, I had a cup of blueberries warmed in the microwave, then stirred into a quarter cup of organic granola and a cup of Total 0 Greek yogurt for breakfast. Okay, so it has been established that I like blueberries.

That in my mind, then, justifies my driving 40 miles each way to get organic. There are dozens of local places, but not organic. If I am making the effort to learn and talk about organic, then I need to eat organic as well.

Anyway, I had a bottle of my homemade green tea that I steeped with fresh slices of ginger and a cinnamon stick on ice and my radio tuned in to my favorite oldies station and off I went. For those local to Ocala, it was a straight shot down 40E and then a left on N-315 for 16 miles to the Bay Lake Blueberry Farm in Ft. McCoy.

When I got there, I was given a bucket and a bungee cord that wrapped around my waist to hook onto the bucket so I could pick hands free. I merrily went from bush to bush and picked my way to a bucket full of these plump, indigo gems.

At checkout, the berries were weighed and placed in a flat to keep them from crushing on the drive home. There were several other local farmers there with little tents up selling plants, honey and herbs. Blueberry bushes were also on sale. But for this trip I stuck with just the berries. By the time I checked out it was about 11:30 and already steamy hot in the Florida sun. I couldn’t help but reward myself with a cup of their homemade organic blueberry ice cream.

Since I picked more than I could eat right away, I went with the idea to freeze some for later. The instructions I got were to place them unwashed on a cookie sheet in a single layer and freeze for 45 minutes, then bag. This will keep them from getting stuck together when I am ready to use some of them.

Blueberry Grunt

I like a generous amount of berries. At least 3 cups or what will cover the bottom of your skillet several layers deep. To this I add enough water to cover and then some. Zest a lemon, add a shake or 2 of cinnamon and just a few tablespoons of organic sugar ( more if you like it sweet) and set to a boil over a medium heat.

Meanwhile, mix up a batch of dumplings. The easiest is to use a biscuit mix and just follow the directions. It is about 2 and a half cups mix.  I like to add a bit of lemon zest and the juice of the lemon to this too along with 2/3 cup of milk to make a nice dough.  Then drop by spoonfuls over the berries, put the lid on the skillet and simmer about another 15 minutes till the dough is cooked. It will have soaked up a lot of the juice ( that is why I like to add a fair but of water to the berries). Eat warm with milk, whipped or ice cream.

It is equally yummy for breakfast or dessert. I don’t actually have exact measurements for this. But this is just one of those that is hard to mess up.