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.

Spring is Here!

After a long snowy winter, we are back in the blueberry fields.  We started pruning in our first field last week and had good weather and good snow melt for most of the week.  The plants in the first field look good so far with nice new growth and good looking fruit buds.

During the winter we tried to get up into the field to cut some of the trees which we cut this fall.  We also had some work to do on trees which had been damaged by the infamous ice storm in December.  Michael’s sister and her family joined us for a day of wood cutting in early March.   They were all very helpful!

Michael and our son Chris went up to burn brush today.  It was a cold rainy day but they managed to get the pile in the back of our first field burned and they also were able to get the tractor started and out of the barn.  Chris will be graduating from high school this year and attending college next year.  We will certainly miss all of his help…especially all of his tractor skills! 

 

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!

One More Day To Go!

Today was 80 degrees but we managed to prune for four hours.  We have finally completed our first field, have one and a half rows to go in the second field and the Berkleys to quickly go through in the third field.  We are hoping Mother Nature turns on the AC because the buds are starting to break open and this would be very early for blossoms.  It also has not rained for 11 days so we started the irrigation in our first field and second field.  The picture is everyone who helped us prune this year, including my mom who is striking a pose in front.  Fun times!

Snow is Gone!

The snow is finally gone (most of it at least) and we were able to get the tractor up to the fields. We have finished pruning one field and are now in our second field pruning Blue Rays and Northlands.  On Saturday we burned brush and pruned Berkley in our third field.  The Berkley plants are about 30 years old and have huge canes so we have to use a pruning saw to cut out the canes.  I am looking forward to a rain day so my body can recover.  All this outdoor work and I haven’t lost one lousy pound…what’s with that!

Pruning Right Along

Variety is the spice of life and our spring weather continues to uphold this adage.  Yesterday we had a mini blizzard and today it was almost 60 degrees…it was pretty cloudy and there were a few sprinkles of rain but very comfortable outdoor weather.  However, as the weather warms the snow has started to soften and we often go through the top layer and sink down about 18 inches.

One of our pruners is an audubon naturalist who periodically brings our attention to the natural wonders around us.  Today she pointed out a low flying Turkey Vulture which I learned is a true harbinger of spring…more so than the Robin who sometimes never leave for points south.  The Turkey Vulture’s wing span was impressive as it soared above us and then headed towards the woods. We also saw two Ravens and we could hear a Phoebe singing in the trees.  As we walked down to lunch, we discovered fresh tracks from a Turkey and right next to the Turkey’s prints were those of an Otter (we think).  All in all, it was a productive and interesting day in the blueberry fields!

Still Cold!

This is a picture from Saturday where my husband and I are obviously posing because this is what we do for fun on Saturdays! Pruning blueberry bushes!  The 2 feet of snow was easy to stand on because we had experienced sub zero temps the previous 2 days.  Ahhhh…springtime in New Hampshire.  It doesn’t get any better than this. 

Pruning Begins

I took this picture on Friday.  My mom is detail pruning blueberry bushes in the back of our third field while I attempt to burn a brush pile.  In the picture, my mom is standing on about two and a half feet of snow which limits the pruning we can do as we can’t even see the crown of the plant beneath the snow.  My burn attempt was moderately successful because the brush piles are buried under the snow.  We are patiently waiting for all this snow to melt but it leaves us little time to prune.  We are supposed to get bad weather (again!) on Wednesday!