It was beautiful to see two of the Amish daughters watering their new plants and helping pull rocks out of the soil. By tomorrow morning, it should be all done.

I am not ashamed or puzzled to say I love my blueberry patch and am proud of it.

I’ve never done anything quite like it before.  I know more about blueberry bushes than I ever dreamed I would know.

Moise and his daughters began planting the 30 new bushes tonight; I didn’t think they could wait. I have to get up early and rush some Peat Moss over to them to put around the root ball.

Some hot weather is on the way and the plants need to get moist and settled.

The family just ran out of peat moss, which is important, thus momentarily halting the planting of all the bushes.

This is a grand spot for my patch (it’s not for me to name it) upon the front slope of the Miller pasture, the sun shines there all day, and Moise has run water pipes all through the ground.

In his lifetime, Moise has plowed half the crops in existence and harvested the other half. My bushes – I know they are not mine- have two-and-a-half foot diameters, are seven feet apart from the other bushes, are planted one foot into the soil, which is half peat moss.

Water lines run near or right under them; they will be moist but not soaked.

They are in strong sun all day long. Soon they will have netting to keep the birds and the deer away.

We expect them to grow a whole bunch of blueberries by mid-summer. They look great – flat, healthy, and eager to grow. They are in good hands.

I thank Moise for trusting me to help with this project; I thank the half dozen blueberry farmers who took some time to talk with me and tell me I needed to know.

I worked hard all week to find the right bushes for the climate, scout out the best prices for them (I did shockingly well), gather information on how they should be planted and cared for, and fend off costly shipping whenever I could. I did very well.

When they came today, I opened up the boxes and whispered encouragement and welcome to each plant. That is what Maria has done to me.

I appreciate this feeling of edging closer to the land. Planting blueberry bushes is not a big deal, yet it is the real thing in some ways.

I hope the people who stop to buy blueberries here will not notice a large and lumbering older man hiding behind the woodshed store and peering out to see how they’re selling.

I can assure you that person won’t be me. Take care of them, Moise; I happily release them to put in your competent hands. They are all yours now.