Organic Gardens

Last week, I celebrated the peak of summer’s bounty by going to a u-pick blueberry farm with my family. As we pulled into the farm, I realized this old-fashioned pastime is much more popular than I ever thought. In spite of the midweek workday and the glaring sun, there were at least 1000 other eager berry pickers scavenging the fields when we pulled off the dirt road.

The buckets were all gone, but my boys tore into the patch with their plastic bags, ripping blue, red, and green berries off the bushes in their frenzy. After a quick tutorial in recognizing ripeness in blueberries, they calmed their picking pace and became more selective in their harvest.

Of course, half the fun of u-pick farms is eating ripe berries out of hand, and I think we rivaled a hungry black bear in our feasting. I resembled Violet from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and I wondered if I would have to be rolled off to the de-juicing machine.

I didn’t worry about washing the berries, as this family farm uses organic growing methods. The berry patch had several tricks up their sleeves to control marauders, including loudspeakers that regularly piped in unnerving screeches from birds-of-prey to repel avian pests.

If your garden isn’t yielding everything you hoped for this season, visit a local pick your own farm, and support sustainable agriculture.