“Rick”: A Lost Term in Raking History

The term “rick” is in rare use today. It is most likely to be heard from the mouth of an “old timer” from Washington County referring to the long space between two lengths of twine that designates a raker’s area on the barrens. Sometimes you are lucky to get a “good rick” or unfortunate enough to have to rake a “bad rick”. The “bad ricks” are usually the start of the fields or near the woods. Today, most people refer to the section simple as a “row”.

Thanks to Todd Merrill of Merrill Blueberry Farms in Hancock Country for this information and for confirming my recollection of this term. –Ed.

You can read more wild blueberry raking memories as part Wild About Health’s guest spot on the Tantra Cooking Blog.


Next Week: The Tantra Cook joins Wild About Health 

Sunny Jennings, known by many as The Tantra Cook, was kind enough to share her own childhood memories of living in New England and picking wild blueberries — what she calls her favorite fruit — in the nearby hills. She also shares a favorite recipe.

On The Tantra Cooking Blog, Sunny joins her culinary passion and a penchant for fun with “Tantra Cooking,” a method of putting the focus on the process of the meal, from beginning to end. That might mean shopping for ingredients with the kids, chopping veggies with a girlfriend or chatting with family over the grill. It’s a wonderful approach that lends itself to choosing whole ingredients and helps us rely less on food short cuts that undermine our health. You Go, girl! Here’s a preview of her post for Wild About Health:

“…one Saturday each August, we created the largest wild blueberry test kitchen on the planet. Or, so we told ourselves. We told stories, caught up on our news, laughed, experimented, carefully or casually measured ingredients, shared equipment and gently critiqued each creation as it reached its optimal temperature. We loved our time together and each of us carried timers hooked to our waists to remind us to race back and check on whatever was in the oven or refrigerator.”

— Sunny Jennings

Relied-Upon Recipe Classics for a Wild Season

The season is ON! Use your fresh while you can in these Maine favorites this weekend.

Wild Maine Blueberry Pie from Yankee Magazine

Melt in Your Mouth Blueberry Cake from VisitMaine.com

Machias Festival Baked Blueberry Shortcake, as featured in the New York Times

Dave Lieberman Does Lemon Blueberry Poundcake

We can talk about healthy food all we want, but it doesn’t do any good unless we’re eating it. Dave Lieberman, known for his Food Network shows Good Deal and Eat This draws from his book 10 Things You Need to Eat for this fast and easy recipe for Lemon Blueberry Poundcake. His book presents 10 important foods that provide powerful health benefits, and it gives readers plenty of ideas for how to incorporate those foods into recipes. This irresistible dessert features the undeniably great-for-you antioxidant-rich blueberries.

This and other fun, healthy-food related video clips can be found at WildBluerries.com. Get quick recipe tips for Wild Blueberry Grahttps://www.wildblueberries.comnola French Toast and Venison Loin with Wild Blueberry sauce with Jonathan Cartwright, and view Mariel Hemingway sharing her approach to healthy eating from her book Mariel’s Kitchen, among others. Eat and be healthy!