Every summer there is a blueberry story.

And a blueberry story would be expected to be a pretty light and frivolous thing. But, this is a story with a perplexing undercurrent that I tried to edit out...for the sake of light reading, but it was having none of that, and found a way to surface. I hope you don't mind.

My blueberry story this year, is dedicated to everyone who works to bring food to our tables. May they all find the beauty in the fields, and the respect they are due.

Picking blueberries, to me, is what work in heaven must be like (if one is inclined to work in heaven). Sunshine, sweet berries, quiet summer sounds and smells, a satisfying, proud and sun-washed feeling at the end of a day of work, that can hardly be called work - because you know it will provide so much pleasure when you're done. 

I've picked blueberries in the summer since I was little. First, with my "Grama" Mary Jo, dressed head to toe in scratchy wool, long-sleeves and head scarves, drenched in mosquito repellent, and wearing "good running shoes" in case the bears came to defend their blueberry claim. Upper Michigan wild blueberries. The only true blueberry-flavored blueberries in my book. Teeny tiny and dark, dark blue.

Each summer visit to the 'UP' seems to revolve around the blueberries. Before I even arrive, I've called for the blueberry predictions - planning my itinerary to land me in the northwoods in time for precise picking perfection. Each summer I try, to no avail, to get the scoop on the "secret" berry patch. This mania runs in the family, I'm afraid. Uncle Steven and Aunt Karen are the absolute, most ruthless berry hoarders - they annually discover the bomb of berry patches - never failing to collect enough blue lovelies to build a larder of pies, preserves, syrups, muffins, pancakes and cobblers. And - they never will tell you where that super patch is !

This year was an off year. The Michigan trip wouldn't fit into my schedule. So, you can imagine my delight, when I saw the job-posting for "pickers" at the Lazy Valley Blueberry Ranch in Penn Valley. This year I would be able to put my extensive skills and experience to use right here in California - just a scenic, 20 minute commute from my house.  I was so excited !  Silly, you may say - but you just can't understand how much I love to pick blueberries.

I have to admit, I was a little nervous about working on a picking crew. How fast would they want me to work ?  How long is a shift ?  Just how hot does it actually get in Penn Valley in the middle of a July day ?  What I found when I got there, was sweeter than an "Early Blue" blueberry. I found myself surrounded by an eclectic family of seasonal 'pickers' - who, every one of them - are as crazy about berry picking as I am.  And, I found Gloria, the best crew boss ever.

Lazy Valley Ranch is a You-Pick ranch, and everyone who has ever come to pick blueberries ... has been greeted by Gloria at the gate. At once, graceful and stern, she patiently repeats the 'rules' of berry picking.  Pick with two hands, be careful of the plants, look for the really blue berries, not green or pink.  Gloria travels each year from her home in Texas, for the 'season', to work with friends, Jeannie and James Gleason at their blueberry ranch. I have to tell you, my apprehension about working for a 'crew boss' was gone with the summer wind.

"Picking the blueberries ...", Gloria says, "... takes a mildly competitive nature."

And mind you, she says this in a dreamy San Antonio drawl that lingers around you like the hot summer breeze.

I like to translate this to mean that my compulsive, one-track, obsession with berry picking will come in handy here.

For five happy weeks, I spent every hour I could 'in the field'. Arranging my 'real' life around the blueberries. Why?  Well, as I said in the beginning of this story .... it's just kinda "heavenly" out there.

Now, I knew I wasn't going to get rich at this summer job. Berry pickers at the Lazy Valley Ranch are paid $2 per pound for the berries they pick. The Gleasons are fortunate, and generous. The demand for locally and lovingly raised berries is high, and their berries are worth every bit of the pretty-darn-high price they command at the BriarPatch Co-op - their main retail outlet. My fellow pickers and I are out there for the fun of it. Flexible 'real' jobs, summer breaks from college, retirees, and neighbor's children making summer money before going back to school.

As we work, we listen as the You-Pickers come and go. Families sharing a special summer activity together, children learning how berries grow, friends meeting to enjoy a day in the sun, tasting sweet berries, planning and trading recipes for their harvest ..... happiness.  Everyone who picks berries should be able to be this happy.  Everyone who harvests food from the fields and orchards should be this happy.

But, here's where the perplexity surfaces.

Now and then, on those sunny days, a cloud seemed to hover, heavy as if with dark raindrops, carrying a reminder of the reality of so many people who do this work, not "for the fun of it", but every day, depending on the work to make their living. We hear bits and pieces of their stories on the news - blueberry pickers in Michigan, working for commercial farms, are paid 60 cents per pound picked, making my take home berry-money seem like a fortune. There are children who spend the day beside their parents in the fields, not for fun, but because there is no 'luxury' of employee child care, often working unnoticed to increase their parents' meager earnings.

Under the sunny auspices of our great local appreciation for local blueberries ....  my working conditions are well above par, (um, heavenly I think I mentioned).  I can come and go as I please, sit in the shade when the mid-day sun is strong, or take a break for a (Lazy Valley blueberry) milkshake up the road at Caleb's Creamery, ... whenever I want to.  In the mornings, on the sunny side .... the shady side in the afternoons. Daydreaming of recipes ... muffins, icecream and pies. And Gloria singing quietly as she picks, smiling, picking.

But, under that perplexing dark cloud .... conditions elsewhere can't be ignored. Farm workers in California are walking right now - from as far as the southern central valley, to Sacramento - in hopes of gaining a guarantee of basic safe working conditions. Things that most of us take for granted. Things that many people who work to produce the food we eat, cannot depend on.

The cloud makes me feel ashamed, but somehow I'm hopeful at the same time. The system we've created through a generation of commercial agriculture has thrown the balance. The value of food has been skewed. Throwing sensibility to the wind, the people who deserve gratitude for feeding us, are too often taken advantage of.

The fact that we are here writing about local food keeps me hopeful. We are acknowledging the respectful and gracious relationships with food and the processes by which it arrives at our tables. We are so fortunate to have access to small, intimate farms where food and people are nurtured. I'm hopeful that this sentiment will spread like a great giant pumpkin vine, into the large commercial farms and to the people who've forgotten about the joyfulness of food.

Every time I would find myself smiling while I picked those berries, I would pause to wish that everyone who is working in the fields, wherever food is growing ... could be feeling that same joyful satisfaction.   ...... I'll leave you with that.

The dark cloud may have cast a shadow on my blueberry story, but the summer sun is still shining on the blueberry field, and on fields all over California, and beyond, where the work doesn't end because picking season is over.

Thanks Jeannie and James, for growing those beautiful blueberries - and thank you Gloria, for sharing a blessing on our first day of work .... "to protect the pickers and keep us all safe, and for the bounty of the berries."

To sign up for You-Pick at Lazy Valley Ranch, be sure to call ahead .... just like landing a campsite at Yosemite .... they're booked up early. The average picking season is beginning of June to mid-July, depending on weather. Mark your calendars for next year.

Lazy Valley Blueberry Ranch is listed on PickYourOwn.org, along with lots of other California You-Pick farms.  Call  530-432-2234.

To learn more about the farm workers' walk to the capital, visit CapRadio.org, or get updates from the United Farm Workers at UFW.org.