Here are some frequently asked questions:
And here are some answers:
Are we organic?
We became Certified Organic through the state of NH in 1989. In 2002 the National Organic program was instituted and the NH Dept of Agriculture became a certifying agent overseen by the federal government. This brought increased paperwork and a sense that the program was no longer appropriate for a small farm such as ours that was marketing locally. We left that program and joined a farmer-initiated one called Certified Naturally Grown and are now on our own as of 2017. Our practices haven’t changed, but because we’re not a part of the federal program we can’t refer to the farm as certified organic. But we can call our farm organic, which is good because we have always used organic methods and will continue to do so.
U-Pick Blueberries
We offer u-pick blueberries for 2 to 3 weeks from mid-July to early/mid August.
The three different varieties are well-established, very productive, and unsprayed. And very tasty! They also freeze beautifully. For our own use in the off-season we pick into containers and place them right into the freezer. The berries stay separate, without clumping in a frozen mass.
The 200 plants plants are meticulously pruned through the winter. If needed, a mulch of wood chips is spread to a depth of several inches and about 4 feet wide on each row.
The major pest of our blueberries in recent years is the mummy berry, a fungus that can infect a large percentage of the berries which then drop to the ground, overwinter as “mummy berries”, and re-emerge in the spring to infect the berries again. Big problem, especially for those of us who don’t use fungicides. Our recent wet springs make matters worse. After much effort we’re making progress. In 2021 we had very little mummy berry.