Guest columnist
Zen and the art of blueberry picking

By Ritzy Ryciak
Special to The Times

RITZY RYCIAK The crop may be blue but the mood is anything but at the Bybee-Nims U-pick blueberry farm in North Bend.

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'We used to come out here and pick blueberries when we were first courting," explained Joanne Boulanger, North Bend resident and avid blueberry picker. "This was one of our early activities together."

It is not difficult to see how a romance begun within the quiet fields of Bybee-Nims Farm, a U-pick blueberry spot in North Bend, could turn into a 16-year marriage.

It is a sweet summer evening in the fields, and the sun has turned that warm golden hue. There is a slight and welcome breeze and for a moment, until your bucket is full, life feels very simple. Joanne and her husband George, a French Canadian who comes from a family of 16, are kneeling on the grass, picking plump purple berries from the lower branches.

"It is just so relaxing," said Joanne, a visitor to Bybee-Nims Farm for more than 16 years. "I remember when I first started coming here, I took photos of the nickel-sized blueberries I picked and gave them to the older man who ran the farm. He hung the pictures in the berry shed."

"Joanne, are you picking?" asked George, teasingly.

This night, Joanne and a very focused George have come to pick 20 pounds of blueberries for Joanne's trip to Montana the next day. George wants to finish picking, but somehow within the private sanctuary of these blueberry fields, there is a lot to talk about.

"You are picking your food," continued Joanne. "Everyone who comes out here is friendly, listening to the birds. It is just getting back to nature."

	Ritzy Ryciak

We have known for years that blueberries, revered for their antioxidant and anti-aging properties, are healthy to eat, but does handpicking this fruit offer other benefits as well?

"I find blueberry picking very surreal," offers Dana Merriman, a Seattle lawyer originally from Alaska. "It is hypnotic and my mind just stops."

Merriman, situated a row away from the Boulangers, fills a 5-pound bucket as she talks.

"It silences that internal voice that is too chatty sometimes," she says. "Blueberry picking is meditative."

Meditation, as described by the National Institutes of Health, is a mind-body process that uses concentration or reflection to relax the body, calm the mind and create a sense of well-being.

Could concentrating on finding the perfect berry actually benefit our lives? The NIH's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine reports that regular meditation, or reflective concentration, can increase longevity and quality of life.

"Blueberry picking somehow flips the switch that turns off my brain in a very good way," says Merriman.

The RAS, or reticular activating system, a network of neurons located in the brain stem, offers an explanation for the relaxation effects of blueberry picking. The RAS, responsible for detecting environmental stimuli and then reporting its findings back to the brain, scans for patterns.

In his article "Mind-Altering Music," Ray Zarvell of Bradley University looked at the dramatic effects music has on the RAS. When a new stimulus is perceived, like the introduction of a discordant instrument, the RAS alerts the brain to possible danger and creates an "arousal state."

However, something really interesting happens when the RAS detects a repetitive pattern, sound or action. The RAS calms the brain and allows it to enter various peaceful states.

Could the repetitive pattern of picking purple berries allow the brain to let down its guard and enter into a peaceful state, like say, meditation or a Zen-like reprieve? Ask the average blueberry picker about his or her mental state while picking and the idea seems to jell.

"It is very Zen-like," confirms Merriman. "Just temporarily, I am in the moment and in nature. I find that I don't worry about anything. It just feels so good — satisfying."

Should doctors be prescribing blueberry picking?

"I come out here for the setting," says Pamela Myers, a longtime picker at Bybee-Nims Farm. She turns to look at Mount Si, which serves as a backdrop to the blueberry field and is almost close enough to touch. "I only come picking at night because it is so relaxing."

It was a stressful day for Myers and she came to the blueberry fields instead of going straight home.

The sun is sliding out of the sky and the blueberry farm is near its closing. Pickers gather their buckets and pull themselves away from leafy bushes.

"Do you know what the hardest thing about picking blueberries is?" concludes Joanne. "Stopping."

Ritzy Ryciak, a Seattle native, is a Northwest writer and a biology teacher. She lives on Queen Anne, and eats a cup of blueberries every day, even in winter.