Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Take a Break: Celebrate National Blueberry Month




July is National Blueberry Month. The 2nd week of July is Nude Recreation Week.  Gee what a choice. With the amount of bugs we have in Vermont, the idea of recreating in the buff has little appeal. Since my state has both cultivated and wild blueberries, I’m opting for Blueberry Month.

Learn more about the health benefits of Blueberries: Antioxidants are thought to help protect the body against the damaging effects of free radicals and the chronic diseases associated with the aging process. Fresh fruits, including blueberries, and vegetables contain many of these naturally occurring antioxidants such as Vitamins C and E.  Blueberries contain 14 mg of Vitamin C and 0.8 mg Vitamin E per 1 cup of blueberries.  In addition, blueberries contain anthocyanins and phenolics that can also act as antioxidants.  Based on data from the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (Boston, MA), blueberries are among the fruits with the highest antioxidant activity.  Using a test called ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity), researchers have shown that a serving of fresh blueberries provides more antioxidant activity than many other fresh fruits and vegetables. US Blueberry Council 

Pick up some blueberries-Whether it’s from your grocery store, a local farm stand or going to a U-Pick Farm, get some blueberries. If you are unfortunate not to have these gems grown locally, check out the freezer section of your grocery store.


Make something with blueberries that requires no baking. It can be as simple as adding fresh blueberries to a salad or cereal or make one of the following:

Make Blueberry Dye and Tie Dye: First make your blueberry dye using one of the following recipes:

Then tie dye some fabric. Use this handy chart for folding or check out some of the videos below:



Read Blueberries for Sal: One of my favorite books from childhood, Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey, has been rated as one of the top 100 picture books for children. There is a colorized version of the book being read online.

Make a Blueberry Fabric Stamp from wine corks. Martha has done it again using blue fabric stamp pads and corks in various sizes. Blueberry FabricStamps 

No comments:

Post a Comment