Blueberry Picking in MN

Today we went berry picking.  It's blueberry season in MN.

We drove about an hour to the Little Hill Berry Farm in Northfield.  After parking the car, we found the farm owners, the whole family, under some pop up tents giving out containers.  The farm is certified organic and uses no pesticides.  They had some of the bushes "tented" and we wanted to ask why, but we forgot to.

The owners asked everyone to wash their hands before picking and encouraged everyone to taste as they go!  No problem.  The grands tasted and tasted.  In fact, we had to make a rule that you picked the berries that you ate.  You couldn't go dipping into the basket of picked berries for snacks.

The kids did great.  Mostly they hit the bushes and picked the big, OBVIOUS ones.  My DIL and I came behind them and got the small berries and pretty much stripped the bushes.

The farmers were very organized.  They walked folks down to different rows and kept track of what had been picked and what had not.  It kept some separation, but it was still like picking in one, big, happy family.  All the kids found other kids their age and compared their baskets to see who had picked the most.

We picked 7 lbs of blueberries.  That is a lot of berries.  I'm looking forward to the jams and pies that should be on the horizon now.

Compared to store prices, it was a great value.  We paid about $4.50 a pound to pick our own.  Considering how much the kids put away that we didn't pay for, I'm calling that a huge win for the Wagner family.

The friendly farmers said they really only did the 'pick your own' one day a week.  They watched the fields and when the berries were ripe for picking, they announced it on their Facebook page.  Usually, the locals who streamed in to pick stripped the ripe berries in their fields in just one weekday.  Then they shut down and waited until the next round of berries were ripe.  It seems like a great way to keep local produce in the hands of locals.  Plus, no transportation costs or farmer's market fees.  We went right to them.

We had a great time picking berries at Little Berry Hill Farm!

--  Sandee Wagner