2023 - Status of
Varieties
Blue Crop – Picked Out
Berkeley – Picked Out
Jersey – Picked Out
Blue Gold – Picked Out
Little Giant – Picked Out
Elliott – Picked Out
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Blueberries
and Old Books?
We added a feature to our Crabtree's Collection
Old Books website in 2001 and every summer offer Pick-Your-Own
Blueberries at our Maine Farmhouse. Stories about of our blueberry
operation are linked to this page below. Check out the pictures of our
place.
The first varieties of our highbush blueberries ripen around
mid-July, and we then open our Pick-Your-Own Blueberry (PYO)
operation to the public for the picking season. If you have been
following the Maine Farmhouse Journals you know how pleased and
proud we are of our old place here (see Bears
in the Blueberry Bushes), and the PYO Blueberry operation gives us a chance
to share a part of our experience with all of you.
Click on these links to get directions
to the farm, our hours of operation and prices,
information about the history of blueberries,
and tips on picking and storing blueberries as well as links to several blueberry recipe websites. Getting Ready for Blueberry Season tells
about some of the work that goes into having big, juicy blueberries for
picking. We also have pictures showing what the blueberry patch looks
like during the Quiet Seasons of autumn
and winter.
When we purchased the Farmhouse in August 1998, one of the bonus
features was the extensive mature plantings of highbush blueberries
in the side field. The former owner, Dot, had planted and nurtured
hundreds of highbush blueberry bushes. They are now 41 years old,
and bear sweet, juicy blueberries the size of your thumb. The
shoulder-high bushes almost bend over under the weight of clusters of
berries.
Since 1998 we have more than doubled the size of the berry patch with new
plantings and now have 1,500 bushes. We have also installed a drip
irrigation system and pamper the bushes with annual pruning, fertilizer
twice a year, and regular weeding and mowing. Our policy has been not to
use any pesticides on our bushes and encourage people to each the berries
right from the bushes to add to their experience. However, with the
advent of climate change a new invasive fruitfly
has migrated into the patch from the south that we've never had in Maine,
forcing us to spray toward the end of the picking season with an organic
pesticide. We'll post a notice when we have to do this, and then will
recommend washing the fruit before eating. Sorry!
We opened the berry patch as a Pick-your-own operation in 2001
and it has become a wonderful experience for hundreds of families every
summer. The picking is easy, and the berries are wonderful. There are
several different varieties that ripen at different times during the
summer, so there are blueberries to pick from mid-July until the end of September
most years. We look forward to seeing you during the summer picking
season - watch this page to see when the different varieties of highbush
blueberries are ripe and ready to pick!
Please call us if you have any questions or suggestions, and we hope
to see you at Crabtree's PYO Highbush Blueberries.
We are listed with the State of Maine
"Get
Real Maine" for PYO Blueberries in Cumberland County.
We are also listed on  under
Regional Attractions - "Maine
Lakes and Mountains
Region".
Allen and Penny
Crabtree
(207) 787-2730
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Maine Blueberry banner and Sebago Map created by
Allen F. Crabtree IV
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This page was last updated September 26,
2023.
Copyright © 2002 - 2023 by Allen
Crabtree
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