Don’t Squash the Berries

            Rain, or the lack thereof, seems to be the foremost topic of conversation these days.  It was nice to have a few showers on Monday even though they were pretty scattered.  We got less than a ¼ inch at my house, while a friend a few miles south reported having a ½ inch.  In spite of the dry weather, my garden continues to look good so far.  An old farmer friend of mine used to tell me that being a bit dry as the garden plants are getting established isn’t necessarily a terrible thing.  Rather, it means that the plants are putting down “deep roots.”  This will help make them stronger in the long run.  Let’s certainly hope this is what is happening right now.

            Another topic of conversation seems to be how early things are coming on this year.  A friend’s blueberry patch has been ready for a week and we have been picking away.  This seems to be a couple of weeks earlier than normal.  I notice that some customers seem amazed that blueberries actually grow around here.  With the right soil and a lot of TLC they do just fine.    

            I have also begun picking wild black raspberries.  These are my favorite berry of all and usually hard to come by.  Risking life and limb and worst of all--poison ivy, I managed to get about a half gallon in my first picking this week.  Good thing I traded lettuce and peas for a bottle of Ali O’s Poison Ivy Relief at last week’s market just in case I wasn’t watching for it closely enough.  Dad and I both commented that the black raspberry crop this year was the best we have ever seen in our neck of the woods.

            Aside from berries, summer squash and zucchini are just getting started.  It’s easy to get excited about squash this early in the season.  I have made a lot of zucchini bread in my day, but never thought to put fresh blueberries in it until I saw this recipe on allrecipes.com.  The best of both worlds!

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

·         3 eggs, lightly beaten

·         1 cup vegetable oil

·         3 tsp. vanilla extract

·         2 ¼ cups white sugar

·         2 cups shredded zucchini or other summer squash

·         3 cups all-purpose flour

·         1 tsp. salt

·         1 tsp. baking powder

·         ¼ tsp. baking soda

·         1 T. ground cinnamon

·         1 pint fresh blueberries

   Preheat oven to 350º.  Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans.  In large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar.  Fold in the zucchini.  Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon.  Gently fold in the blueberries.  Transfer to the prepared mini-loaf pans.  Bake 50 minutes or until knife comes out cleanly.  Cool 20 min. in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.