Picking your own fruit and berries is a popular family fun in Christchurch with half-a-day outdoors activity for the children and cheaper, natural and healthy fresh fruit for the pantry. Various farms offer their produce, cherries, blueberries and raspberries among others. Blueberry Bliss is a blueberry plantation new Prebbleton offering many different varieties. Friendly staff welcome the pickers. Some already prepared with containers to be tared and water bottles, some others just take the empty ice-cream containers offered. Maren came with a group of mums with little children having a baby daughter of her own. Maren laughs and chats with her friend while selecting the ripest berries of the bush. “Oh, it’s good fun, but actually it’s $15/kg and I’ve already picked quite a lot, look! How much is this really, a couple of kilos? Maybe we should stop now. It’s too hot anyway, the Raspberry Cafe is close by. Shall we just meet there after?” The mums decide to simply freeze the fresh blueberries but they can be preserved in many other ways. On their way out they are offered a collection of blueberry recipes for more ideas.