Blueberries are ready!
This must be the earliest season ever for blueberries. So early that I missed opening day at Haven Farm in Tyee. I made a note to check their website on Friday (6/12) as they opened on 6/18 last year, but I didn't get around to looking until today. They opened yesterday!!! I couldn't have gone even if I had known, but they say there are still plenty of berries to pick and more varieties coming on soon.
I dug the newspaper out of the recycling bin to see if Big Bend Berries is open and, yes, they are. The nice thing about Big Bend, aside from the fact that they are much closer and the owners are so nice, is that you can pick in the evening on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's a great family activity. The price, $1.20/lb. is the same at both places. Brosi's in Winston grows blueberries, too, but I have never picked there.
Big Bend Berries
458 Big Bend Rd., Roseburg (Garden Valley)
541-673-8767
U-pick only (bring buckets and containers)
M W F Sat 8:00 am to noon
T TH 5:00 pm to 8:30 pm
10246 Tyee Rd., Umpqua (15 miles west of Sutherlin)
Bring containers; they supply picking buckets
Open M - Sat. 8:00 am to 2:00 pm
Additional information for first-time pickers:
If
you've never picked your own fruit before, blueberries are a great
place to start. No bending, no thorns, no ladders! I use the
bucket-on-a-belt method for the fastest picking. Just thread an old belt
through the handle of a small, sturdy bucket and fasten around your
waist or over one shoulder. That way you have both hands free to pick. I
like the 10 lb. detergent buckets with the metal handle. (Note: Haven Farm supplies their own picking buckets, but you should still bring a belt.) The small,
plastic ice cream tubs are fine for children (who rarely get them full),
but I have had the plastic handle break and then had to re-pick all of
my berries out of the grass! I take along plastic dishpans to empty the
berries into when the bucket gets full.
