Originally published September 19 2005
Pick your own blueberries for your health
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
As a growing number of studies continue to reveal the health benefits of antioxidant-rich blueberries, a columnist for the Roanoke Times suggests making a day of blueberry picking a family vacation activity.
These reports had nothing to do with my recent late-night cravings, I'll admit.
After watching me scrounge around the pantry looking for even a hint of the stuff -- an errant semi-sweet chip would've done the trick -- my husband muscled up his inner caveman and drove the minivan to 7-Eleven to hunt down a Dove bar for me.
I would argue that health care plans across the valley should come with well-check visits to Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea and other coffee shops, but I'm sure the co-pay would be out of sight.
No way are blueberries as satisfying as a Toblerone, and a handful in the morning cereal does nothing to wipe the sleep from your eyes.
That's the thinking this time of year, anyway, as my family and I plan our annual trek to Windrush Farms, a pesticide-free, pick-your-own blueberry patch in Giles County.
Sheila Reighard sees it again and again: Dad brings the kids out for a late-summer morning of easy berry-picking -- unlike low-to-the-ground strawberry-picking, blueberry pickers don't even have to stoop -- and before long he's mentally calculating how to turn a summer-vacation day into a career.
Regular customers love the annual trek, though.
Some come so often and pick so much that they have frozen blueberries until the next year's picking season.
They also come bearing magazine and newspaper clippings: Blueberries help retain memory; are a powerful anti-aging stimulant; and, according to the most recent study at Tufts University, have more antioxidants than 40 other fruits and vegetables.
Other Windrush customers sprinkle handfuls into muffin and pancake batter, or puree them into smoothies.
From Blacksburg: Head west on U.S. 460 for five miles, turn left onto Virginia 605, and the farm is 3.2 miles ahead on the left.
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