Blueberries – a real treat!

Finally, the time has come – when the blueberries ripen on the alpine pasture, my hands tingle, and I look forward to a window of time when I can go picking blueberries (bilberries) – “riffling.” In good spirits and packed with buckets, blueberry rakes, a good snack, and a rain jacket, we head up towards Stubnerkogel. Windows down to enjoy the magnificent view, put on hiking boots, and up onto the “Bichel” (hill).

Since it rained in the morning, it was a bit slippery. What a joy—no one else had been to this little spot yet, so I could get straight to work. Actually, picking wild blueberries is a lovely time-out for me—pure relaxation and not work at all. Taking a little break every now and then, lying down for a few minutes, watching the clouds and the trees as they move—it’s just beautiful. Only a few kilometers away from the farm, you’re in a completely different world and can switch off so well.
Once you’ve finished combing the berries into the buckets, or if you only have a certain amount of time, you put the lid on the bucket and carefully head back down to the vehicle. You have to be so careful not to spill the berries; it would be such a shame after all that tedious picking. :-)

With blue fingers and blue tongues, we come home, beaming. A quick change and a few minutes to rest, then the blueberries are immediately cleaned and freed from leaves. We have a wooden board for this, which has a border on the side; one side of the board is raised, and the bowl goes on the other side. This has the advantage that the blueberries roll down, and the leaves tend to stick to the board, which actually makes it quite quick.

We don’t throw the leaves away; we dry them and give them to the calves if there’s a risk of diarrhea. Once the blueberries are sorted, we process them into a good blueberry jam or dry them for ourselves, and for our daily farm breakfast, there are fresh bilberries in the yogurt and a delicious cake.
The yogurt-blueberry slices or the popular bilberry pancakes are very refreshing and really quick to make. But before I could take any photos, the sheet cake had already been eaten—that will have to wait for the next farm stories. Then I’ll dedicate some time to good, simple recipes all about wild blueberries/bilberries.

Warm regards from Zittrauerhof

Your farmer Katharina