Tennessee

Sometimes, and often, you don't have to travel far for an experience. And often times the experience presents itself entirely unexpectedly. We traveled just 15 minutes today out into the country to collect a gallon of blueberries from this little old lady that has several bushes on her property. We learned of her from her neighbor, Sarah Morias, that shared her sweet delectables on our amazing local community facebook page for, well, hippies of course! When I recieved the message that our blueberries were ready to be picked up, I never suspected I would be getting an experience with my gallon of perfectly picked berries. We pulled into the driveway of Betty Dunning and something pulled at my heart strings. Being an empath, this feeling didn't surprise me but I just had to talk to her and know more about her story. She stood there surrounded in her blueberry bushes with a sliced open milk jug at her side, picking berries one by one. A large straw hat kept the sun out of her face and wooded acres drapped behind her pulled together a beautiful country scene. Sarah pointed out the clearing in the wooded area behind her house where several blueberry bushes have resided for the last 20-25 years. Betty began to tell us how she tries to keep the bushes pruned and short enough for her to pick. "All this rain has made them gone bananas." It was inspiring to watch Betty at 85 seasoned years, working outside in the 90 degree weather in between severe thunderstorms. Betty's husband Claude left this beautiful world in 2008 but I don't think he went far. "These ones up here, [by the house], when my Husband was ill he didn't want me out of his sight so I planted these up here so he could watch me." Betty shared bits and pieces of her story as she contently picked organically grown blueberries for her community. We thanked Betty for her hard work and the bountiful fruit she provided us with and we were on our way. With love in my heart and berries already in Steve's mouth, we gently waved to Claude while he quietly continued to watch over his beautiful wife.Read more