Happy New Year

We hope everyone has a happy healthy new year.  This is a shot of the barn at the farm which is actully older than the house.  It is a wonderful example of early post and beam construction and dates back to the late 1700’s.   There are animal stalls inside which still bear the teeth marks from long ago horses and at one time there was a little bread factory attached to the structure.  My dad restored this treasure over the years by replacing the foundation and roof at first and then completely residing the structure.   It currently is used as storage for the farm and a hangout for a resident bat population!

Fun at the Farmer’s Market

We had a great time at the Winter Farmer’s market held at Wentworth Greenhouses in Rollinsford.  This is a picture of Michael and his favorite mother-in-law prior to the opening.  Seacoast Eat Local and Wentworth Greenhouse have another farmer’s market scheduled for Saturday, December 5 http://www.seacoasteatlocal.org/winterfarmersmarkets/ .  We won’t be participating as we sold most of our frozen blueberries at the last market but there were many many great farms and vendors who will be returning.

For the past few weeks we have been busy pruning the blueberry bushes in our third field.  Most growers recommend that blueberry bushes can be pruned starting in March and continuing up to blossom time.  However, because of the number of bushes we need to prune and because of advice from other growers, we have started pruning in November and will continue until it gets too cold (for us and the bushes!)  We resume pruning in March and April which usually allows us the needed time to prune all 6000 plants.  Stay tuned for a pruning workshop which will be held at the farm sometime in March in conjunction with UNH Cooperative Extension.

Rocks, Rocks and More Rocks

What started as a fall project to remove a few pesky stones from the parking lot became a much larger job.  As you can see from the photo, not only do we grow highbush blueberries but it seems we also grow very large rocks.  Even our dog in the lower right corner is aghast!  Once our contractor, Scott, started digging…he couldn’t stop.  Actually, he has a nifty machine which took care of all those stones in a short amount of time.  So next time you come to the farm, you won’t have to maneuver your car around the rocks and if you’d like a rock or two…they’re free!

Tremendous Picking Conditions

The rain has stopped just in time for peak picking conditions and this could be our best season yet for blueberries!  We are now picking in all three fields and will open the Jersey variety for picking this weekend which is looking very good.  We anticipate that our season will reach into early September but always call first at the end of August and early September to make sure we are open.  Here are some pictures taken over the last week of blueberry pickers leaving with their bounty!

Can you spot the triplets in the above photo?

Bountiful Berries

This young lady (along with her mom, dad and brother) broke the record for largest and most clever blueberry container.  Behold 30 pounds of blueberries all ready to travel home to become yummy goodies and I’m sure to be frozen.  Freezing blueberries is quite easy.  Spread the blueberries in a single layer on a cookie sheet and place the sheet in your freezer.  When the blueberries are frozen, remove from the freezer and pack in freezer bags.  Remove all air from the bags and send your frozen blueberries back to the freezer.  They should stay fresh for up to one year.

Friends George, Lisa and Lexi were out to visit this past weekend and found a blueberry jackpot out in the back of our first field.  The rain has actually been great for the blueberries and coupled with some much needed sun and heat, the crop is truely one of the best.   You will not be disappointed when you come to pick blueberries this summer!

Today was a perfect day for a swim and late this afternoon a river otter was spotted sunning himself in the pond on the big rock.  So far this week we have spotted the otter, deer in our third field, a mink diving into the pond, an eagle circling over the second field after we had closed last night and a Scarlet Tanager bird in the first field.  Come early for the best chance of spotting some wildlife and be very very quiet!

Happy Pickers

The farm opened for picking on Wednesday and this happy group emerged from our third field with lots of good blueberries.  Today’s weather was a bit on the warm side which has been something we haven’t seen much of this summer!   We definitely recommend bringing mosquito spray for early morning and late afternoon picking.

Although we are about 4 or 5 days behind schedule because of the weather, we are very pleased with the crop this year.   The blueberries have thrived with an abundance of rain and the pollination of our blossoms in May was excellent.   We expect our second field with Northland and Blueray varieties to open some time next week and this field also promises a very good crop.

It was great seeing returning customers over the last two days and also meeting new customers.   Our apologies to anyone who had a difficult time finding our farm.  Sometimes a GPS will send you to 650 Province Rd. in Barrington.  We are located on 650 Province Road in Strafford across the street from Bow Lake.

Blueberry Plants For Sale – $12.95

Just in time for spring planting and Mother’s Day are these very healthy two year old blueberry plants.  We are selling two varieties, Blueray and Spartan which are cold hardy to our New Hampshire climate.  We grow the Blueray variety in our second field and it produces a mid-season large sweet berry.  The Spartan variety produces a July crop of  berries that are large and juicy, with excellent flavor. 

Blueberry plants are a nice way of landscaping with native species and they provide a brilliant fall foliage with the leaves turning bright red.  After the leaves fall, the stems display a nice red color similar to a Dogwood bush.  Plan on planting your new bushes in full sun and be sure to provide them with lots of water.  Blueberry plants require cross pollination so it is recommended that you plant at least two different varieties.

The plants will be for sale for $12.95 until Mother’s Day weekend.  After May 10, the plants will be priced at $15.95 and we will be potting them up in larger containers to prepare them for selling this summer in the blueberry field.  If you are interested in purchasing some plants, please call our number at 603-664-2100 to set up a time for pick up.

A Beautiful Fall

Our season may be over but it seems like the work never stops at Berrybogg Farm.  My husband decided to get ambitious this fall and clear a wide swath of trees in the second field.  Of course he had a lot of help from our friend Wolfgang (who took down about 40 trees in 2 hours) and George.  The first 5 rows of the second field have grown wild over the past few years because of their proximity to the approaching forest and lack of sunlight.  Hopefully, after some severe pruning they will stand straight and tall again. 

The above picture shows just how much has been cleared and how much needs to be cleaned up.  You can see from the picture that most of the leaves have fallen from the blueberry plants which means that the pruning season in not far behind.  We typically begin pruning in the beginning of November and stop at the end of December as the temperatures become too cold for the plants and us to endure pruning.   If we have a stretch of warmer weather in January or February, we will continue to prune but otherwise it will be the middle of March when we resume pruning until bud break.

In honor of Halloween, I snapped this picture of my mom pretending to try her hand (or cut off her hand) with the chainsaw!  Of course the chainsaw is not running but it’s a great picture of how not to cut wood!

First In, Last Out!

All good things must come to an end and today was our last day of picking at Berrybogg Farm.  Pictured above is my mom escorting Billy out to the parking lot with his final stash of blueberries.  Bill was the first customer in on July 11th and almost the last out today.  There should be some kind of award for that! 

Yesterday our good friend Susan came by to get her last berry picking done.  As you can see from the above picture she also brought us a gift of fresh veggies from her garden.  At least some gardens were able to weather all the rain last month.

Finally, we have had many great new and old customers visit us this year and we thank everyone for their patronage.  Pictured above is our new friend Nicole who came all the way from Manhattan with her two cute little dogs to pick blueberries…well…she actually came to visit with my sister and was forced to pick blueberries to have pancakes last weekend but we voted her the best dressed picker in the blueberry fields this year! 

The growing season is not complete for a lot of farms so remember to visit the farmer’s markets and farms still offering fresh produce in your local area.  I will continue to update the blog as we go about working on the farm in preparation for the next season but for now…I’m going on vacation!

Nearing the End

Last Friday we had this fun group of people come to pick blueberries and blackberries for their Saturday wedding.   Who knew getting married could be so much fun!  They managed to crawl through the blackberry patch and snag the best fruit of the season and picked a lot of blueberries too.  The bride and groom told me they were going to combine their fruit with fresh fruit from Warren’s Farm (where they were getting married) to make the wedding dessert.  Sounds like a perfect wedding!

I can’t believe we are almost ready to call it a season at Berrybogg.  We had a lot of people out this weekend picking the last of the Berkeleys and Jerseys so we decided to close the farm until Thursday when we will make a last run at the Late Blues which are looking big and beautiful.  Unfortunately, with all the rain from the previous weeks we have been suffering the wrath of mosquitoes so make sure you wear bug spray when you come to pick.  Early mornings and late afternoon seems to be the worst but the weather forecast is for bright and clear skies without a lot of humidity so hopefully that will minimize their numbers.