What special work is required to grow wild blueberries?
I have 60 acres and harvest 25 a year. With wild blueberries you can harvest a field only every two years. One year is the harvest year; the next is the pruning year. In the spring we burn down the field, and after a dormant winter, we put out the bees for pollination. The whole field becomes a sea of blue. We don’t use any chemicals to grow our berries. We process about 2,000 pounds a day. A sorting machine takes out all the twigs and small berries. We also need to keep blowing fresh air over them constantly to protect them from moisture. We won’t take them to the store unless they’re dry. I put them right in the air–conditioned room at 60 degrees as soon as they’re packed. What should customers look for when buying fresh blueberries? Look for the blue dust – which shows they haven’t been washed. Moisture ruins blueberries. What is the season for fresh blueberries? I usually start selling to the stores from the last week of July through the end of August. Some growers go from mid–July
