Standing in Berry Sourdough Bakery, waiting for coffee. My eye catches sight of a rather enticing book; Locavore, A foodies journey through the Shoalhaven. Hello, what have we here?..The Shoalhaven is an area that sits just south of Sydney, and according to this book there is a whole wealth of wonderful food deliciousness just within reach. Now I already knew of a few, but to discover more? Well, I had to buy the book didn’t I?
One of the places mentioned is Clyde River Berry Farm. A place where you can pick your own fruit. Primarily a blueberry farm, it also has a variety of other berries, peaches, plums, nectarines, honey and jams. A slight detour on a dirt road and we were there. Obviously very popular, as the place seems to be rather busy. It’s bakingly hot, the middle of the day and we still had a long way to drive with The Monkeys. We wander through the orchard rows, picking blueberries, nectarines, plums and peaches as we go. At least now, we had something to munch on in the car.
Munch we did. It was so lovely to be able to taste fresh fruit. Really, fresh fruit. Selected by the grubby paws of Little Monkey and Monkey Boy, nothing could be finer.
Some Blueberry tips:
* Let the berries stay on the bush for a week once ripened.
* Once the fruit has been picked, it can stay in the fridge for up to a week plus.
* If still uneaten after a week, can be easily frozen.
* Don’t wash them first before freezing, as they won’t defrost well.
Awhile ago a reader suggested I try growing blueberries after hearing of my rather dismal gardening in pots effort. The next week I went out and bought a bush. I still haven’t killed it, (hooray!) it seems to be quite happy in a pot, no critters have demolished it, and I have now tasted my very own blueberries from it. So Lotte, if you are still reading…Thank you.
sourdough blueberry pancakes
cityhippyfarmgirl 
You can’t get fresher than that.
The pancakes look scrumptious.
Thanks for sharing.
Matthew
LikeLike
Thanks Matthew. It makes such a difference eating straight from the source. No lingering in cold storage for…. who knows how long.
LikeLike
What fun! It must be the week for picking, or trying to anyway…I took the girls for a drive to a nearby strawberry farm this week but they were closed due to flood damage 😦
We still managed to have a nice afternoon trawling through an avenue of fruit market stands though. Blueberry pancakes = yum!
LikeLike
Blueberry pancakes are great aren’t they. The Monkeys still prefer the normal ones and not sourdough, but I’ll still persist 🙂
LikeLike
I just love blueberries. This would be heaven for me.
LikeLike
They are great aren’t they. Blueberries in anything!
LikeLike
I bought that book when down on the south coast over Christmas. I was so excited when I saw it. Such a great idea!
I’m looking forward to checking out a few more of the farms on my next trip that way.
I hadn’t thought of growing blueberries in pots. I’m planning to put in a berry bed one day, but perhaps I should have some in pots for now. Thanks 🙂
LikeLike
Isn’t it a beautifully shot book. I’m hoping over time to visit quite a few of these places. It made me look at the area in a completely different light.
LikeLike
Oh I am so envious, I love picking fruit and that looks so wonderful on this icy cold winter night. I’ld love some blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Bbs appear in the shops here all through the year, they come from all over the world, from Peru (!) to Poland and finally homegrown in the summer. Home grown always taste best, fresher and more fragrant.
I made a little acid bed in my very alkaline soiled garden, just for my one blueberry bush which had lived in a pot for 5 years. Zeb, not normally a being who is keen on fruit, guards the blueberries zealously from the blackbird who is also rather partial to them, and earnestly hoovers up any that drop to the ground. I’m lucky to get a look in. 🙂
LikeLike
If people can keep them going, it makes sense to have your own blueberry bush. They are usually quite expensive here for tiny punnets, and I’m doing very little upkeep for the pot. I have big ideas for that little blueberry bush of mine!
I like the idea of Zeb guarding them 🙂
LikeLike
Hey, that’s great you’ve got a flourishing blueberry ‘pot’ garden happening – the pancakes look wonderful (all the more special because you’ve made it I bet). Picking (& eating) fruit right from the tree or vine is like eating sunshine…., sounds heavenly to me too.
LikeLike
You could taste that sunshine Anna, and it tasted like summer 🙂
LikeLike
We recently took the whole family blueberry on a gorgeous little farm between Albany and Denmark in WA. The children absolutely love it. The blueberries were amazing, as was the icecream that we HAD to buy when we were finished.
I have tried growing some myself too. I think that next season I will need to invest in a bit of shade cloth as the birds seemed to beat me to the ripened berries every time.
LikeLike
I diverted the kids attention from the fruit icecream 🙂
It is lots of fun to pick your own fruit for kids isn’t it.
LikeLike
My friends and I went blueberry picking here last summer with all the kids…it was so much fun…we planted 10 bushes this fall, but I think that the deer have eaten them all…oh well.
LikeLike
Oh what a pest! Do deer eat much of what you plant?
LikeLike
not too much…we need to put up fencing and then also put deer repellent around the garden, but they learn to stay away. Having a dog also scares them off when they smell the urine.
LikeLike
I have a whole freezerful of blueberrries my kids picked last summer.Yesterday I made a blueberry tea bread and took it to knitting group. I came home with an empty pan! Even frozen, fresh picked blueberries are the best!
Love your pictures.
Just took a pan baked rye out of the oven and waiting for a little rise in the cheese bread before putting it in. AND- I’m thinking about making another blueberry tea bread so that my family can taste it!
Have a wonderful time traveling about to your local places, Brydie!
My daughter in law bought me a book like that for Ohio- I have such field trips planned. Mine also has recipes for the largesse of local foods
LikeLike
Blueberry tea bread you say Heidi? Hmmm, that sounds good…
This book also has some recipes. So stunning. Every area should have one!
LikeLike
Your photographs are wonderful and of course have created a hunger for anything blueberry. I have frozen berries and a scone sounds terrific. I’m heading to the kitchen :-). Have a wonderful day. Blessings…Mary
LikeLike
Thanks Mary 🙂
LikeLike
We have two blueberries growing in pots here in Sydney, so it can be done! Don’t get a lot of fruit off either though, but it was lovely to have even a little bit!
LikeLike
The very few I ate from my own pot were eaten very mindfully Celia!
LikeLike
Thanks for the heads up on the book. My pares live down that way and that will give us lots to do – must get them a copy for us to peruse! I didn’t know about the berry farm (how fun?) but there are some great wineries that are awesome to explore.
LikeLike
There is a whole lot of wonderful places in that book MM. It made me want to move in to the area immediately. I haven’t tried out any other wineries in the area (besides in the Kangaroo Valley) but we quite often pass them, with me muttering …one day…one day.
LikeLike
mmmmm…. blueberries. We have blueberries in our yard. I love, love picking them.
LikeLike
They are wonderful aren’t they.
LikeLike
Wow…beautiful blueberries still on it’s plants! I have never seen that. I love blueberries. They are just so good in desserts. Love your blueberry pancakes…..mmmm
LikeLike
blueberries are so expensive in australia i usually don’t allow myself the luxury of buying fresh ones, just frozen. the sheer thought of picking our own sounds like such a treat, and those pancakes look amazing.
LikeLike
If you can, grow another one of a different variety – they pollinate better that way and you get heaps more blueberries 3 are better still.
LikeLike
Now that’s a good idea. I’ll get on to that!
LikeLike