blueberries

It has been an ongoing wish of mine to go to a pick your own blueberry farm and spend a lazy morning picking, eating and baking my personal favorite pie from the harvest. So when a friend was visiting from out of town for a few weeks the two things collided and I ended up with a fresh blueberry pie.

Cindy and David Proudfoot at their farm in Barbour County, West Virginia.

I was lucky enough to meet David and Cindy Proudfoot and visit their farm and gardens in Barbour County just after the 4th of July. So one warm morning my friend Dominic, who was visiting from out of town, and I  spent about 2 hours picking berries and about an hour just visiting with the Proudfoots. We shared a rambling conversation about their century farm and how it was passed from one family member to another and is still in operation for over 100 years after David’s grandfather bought the land. This year the farm will receive an official state listing and a beautiful white sign to place at the entry to their driveway. The sign will state that this farm is a West Virginia Century Farm and is family owned and operated. The farm is used mostly as a vegetable andblueberry farm. They sell the blueberries as a “Pick Your Own Blueberries” operation, from 420 blueberry bushes they maintain. They also sell vegetables and flowers at the local farmer’s markets.

Heritage Tom turkey that the Proudfoots use for breeding.

David explains information about this huge flower.

Cindy and Dave have worked for 12 years to develop and cultivate several large vegetable gardens, flower gardens, two fields of blueberries and a couple of ponds. The gardens are full of native and heirloom plants and feed their honey bees. Their shared knowledge and understanding of plants and mushrooms is an immense and amazing experience to be a part of. They teach classes on the farm and enjoy sharing their knowledge with anyone who is interested. You can see what is happening on the farm at Proudfoot Mountain Farm- mountainfarmwv.blogspot.com or on Facebook at Proudfoot Mountain Farm. 

Dominic Piacentini picking blueberries at the Proudfoot farm in Barbour County, WV

large ripe Blueberry ready to pick.

So after picking around 12 pounds of the ripest berries Dominic and I headed home to wash, sort and cook with our berries. I made a pie and froze about 4 pounds of berries to use over the winter. Dominic made a dump cake and eat the berries fresh with his roommates. It was a wonderful day spent with some of the most interesting people I know. I have included here two simple recipes to make a coffee cake and a deep dish blueberry pie and a reminder about freezing the berries on cookie sheets.

Deep dish Blueberry pie.

Just quick reminder if you plan to use your berries for things like cakes, pies, muffins it is nice to be able to measure out how many cups of berries you are using. So after cleaning and sorting my berries, I let them stand in a colander for a couple hours to drain off any excess water. I then spray two cookie sheets with a cooking spray and fill each one up with berries, trying to keep any of them from touching. Then place the berries in the freezer at least overnight. Then bring them out and place both cookie sheets of berries in one large gallon zip lock bag and refreeze. Two cookie sheets equal about 1/2 of a gallon bag or 4 cups of berries. This way you can pour the berries out of the bag and they are not frozen in a huge clump.

looking for stems on cleaned blueberries.

For a traditional Blueberry coffee cake, the National Blue Berry Council shared this recipe.

Blueberry Buckle

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup oil

1 1/2 cup cake flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon or nutmeg

10 oz of blueberries about a heaping cup full.

mix and pour into 9″ square pan and top with crumb topping;

crumbs:

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup soft but not melted butter

bake at 350 deg for 45 minutes, serve warm.

Blueberry pie or the Recipeless Fruit Pie;

enough dough for two pie crusts and a deep dish pie pan

1/2 cup sugar if the berries are fresh and sweet more if they seem tart

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup cornstarch… depending on the juiciness of the fruit. (  apples, peaches, pears need less )

5 cups of clean ripe fruit with stems removed.

two teaspoons salted butter to top fruit

heat oven to 425 degrees. Line a deep-dish pie pan with one crust. In large bowl mix dry ingredients together, add berries and mix well, pour berries into crust and top with small pads of butter and top crust. Seal edges and cut a whole to vent the steam off the pie. Bake 45 minutes until fruit is bubbly and crust is golden brown.

We serve the pie with vanilla ice cream while it is hot from the oven on a hot evening out on the patio.

As Dominic and I picked and talked that morning, it was wonderful to have time to visit. It reminded me why we both like to cook and how families used to spend their time together doing activities just like this. It brought me closer to nature, to friends and to my family. At the end of my long day, I  even got to eat the rewards of my labors, nothing in the world I love better! Thank you, Cindy and David Proudfoot for spending your time with us and sharing the bounty of your farm IT WAS WONDERFUL.