There’s a property across the road from us which had a beautiful stand of old growth forest on it and also a blueberry patch. The larger part of it was sold after the owner died. They’ve cleared it and are now growing corn on it. Recently the smaller part with the blueberry patch came up for sale. Our friends didn’t want the same thing to happen to this property, so they bought it to save the mature woodland that is still on part of it.

They weren’t planning to utilize the blueberry patch, so they asked us if we would be interested in looking after it. We decided to go for it!

Now we’re working at pruning out the old overgrowth. Nobody has been pruning it in the last year or two, so there’s lots of old wood that we need to cut out. There’s also a fungal disease which causes a growth called witch’s broom. It eventually causes the plants to die, but with proper pruning the plants can still produce for a good while. This also makes for extra pruning, but I enjoy working with plants and tidying up the overgrowth.

Selema, Daniel and Adoniram have been helping me with the pruning. Right now Selema and Caleb are helping a volunteer relief organization rebuild hurricane-damaged houses in Cape Breton. So this week it’s just the three of us working at the patch, when the boys are available after their lessons.

We’re hoping to be able to pick lots of unsprayed blueberries this summer! Watch our online store after the middle of July.