The age old battle continues. Whats the difference between hand picked blueberries and machine picked blueberries. The hand picked blueberries are firmer, because they are typically not as sweet/ripe, as they are the first of the crop. We can't machine pick these earliest berries, as it would damage the rest of the berries on the bush which are still ripening. The riper/sweeter the berry the softer it becomes. For Machine picked berries, the majority of the berries have to be ripe, because the majority will fall off as the picker goes through. With hand picking you can select the berries that are the biggest and the bluest and the ripest. We, the farmer, expect a highest quality from the hand pickers.
Every year we make our own compost right here on the farm. We couldn't find a reliable source of consistent compost, so we make our own, with our own special recipe. We gather compost feed stocks from our local area, and layer them carefully. We turn it, and let it cook for 12 to 14 weeks, then it goes into a curing pile for 1 year. We then spread it on our blueberry plants, as a food source, and sell it to other local blueberry growers. This special formula results in berries that are amazing nutritious, delicious, and have a wonderful texture too. In small quantities our compost is available to the public for purchase, $50 dollars a yard by appointment.
Our U-Pick field is going to open on the 15th of July. The Verity is Blue Crop, and the price is $2.50 per pound. We recommend that you bring your own containers, and leave your dogs in the car, or at home. We also ask that you don’t smoke while in the field. This year the berries are bigger than ever, and as sweet as can be. Our hours are 8am to 6pm Monday through Sunday. We will have our U-Picks open for at least three weeks. We are all really excited to finally get the U-Picks started, we know how long everyone has been waiting and wondering when we are going to open the U-picks up. We have had to wait because of the weather, we haven't had much sun and so the berries are big and blue but they were sour, however they have been getting sweeter with everyday that passes. Hope to see you all out at our farm picking berries!
