It's going to be a great one! It is now the end of June and we've had nearly constant cold and rain here for the last couple of weeks. There have been enough breaks, however, to allow the bees to do their job, and what a job they have done! I can't remember when I've seen so many blueberries on the bushes as we have right now - still all green and hard and sour, but the promise of this year's harvest is wonderful! Our neighbor, Tim Mayberry, lost all 10 of his bee hives this winter. We had to rent some hives from George Sawyer in Bridgton, and on the days when the sun was out and the temperature warm the air was full of bees going from flower to flower. He picked up the hives after all the flowers had been pollinated and berries were starting to set on the bushes, and we're now waiting for the berries to ripen. The berries on our early variety Blue Crop bushes are now about the size of small peas and turning pink. The other varieties are right behind, but it will be a while before they are ready for picking. Depending on the amount of warm weather and sun we have over the next couple of weeks, we are hoping for a mid-July opener, but will update you every week. Tomorrow, the last of June, we will muck out the blueberry stand, restock the shelves, put out the picnic tables, and fix any leaks in the irrigation system (haven't needed it so far this spring). Then the road signs go up, and we'll be ready for mother nature to ripen the berries so we can open for the season.

2009 - Status of Varieties Blue Crop - Berries Ripening Berkeley - Berries Ripening Jersey - Berries Ripening Elliott - Berries Ripening Little Giant - Berries Ripening Blue Gold - Berries Ripening Cindy Skoolicas (l) and Scott Brubaker from North Baldwin, Maine were the lucky blueberry pickers who brought the total berries picked at Crabtree's Blueberries in 2008 to two tons! Shown here are Cindy, Scott, Colby the official blueberry dog and Allen Crabtree. Taylor Bushnell proposed marriage to Kim Bishop in the blueberry patch on August 21, 2008, and Kim accepted! "We couldn't think of a more romantic location," Bushnell said. Bushnell and Bishop were visiting colleges in Maine from their homes near Portand, Oregon where her father is a blueberry farmer also. A date for the wedding has not yet been set. 2008 was the best year we ever saw for our Blue Crop variety, but 2009 should be better Several groups have brought picnic lunches to make the picking a true summer family outing

Blueberries and Old Books?

We added a new 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.

Large, juicy blueberries hang in big bunches for easy picking

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 25 years old, and bear sweet, juicy blueberries the size of your thumb. The chest-high bushes almost bend over under the weight of clusters of berries.

Since 1998 we have doubled the size of the berry patch with new plantings and usually add new bushes every year. We have also installed a drip irrigation system and pamper the bushes with annual pruning, fertilizer twice a year, and regular weeding and mowing. We don't use any pesticides on our bushes and encourage people to each the berries right from the bushes to add to their experience.

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 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".

[Blueberry Home Page] [Directions] [Hours and Prices] [About Blueberries] [Blueberry Recipes] [Getting Ready for Blueberry Season] [Colby's Letter to Camp Laurel] [ PYO Blueberries] [Water for the Blueberries] [The Quiet Seasons] [E-mail ] [Crabtree's Collection Home Page]

Maine Blueberry banner and Sebago Map created by Allen F. Crabtree IV

This page was last updated June 29, 2009.

Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 by Allen Crabtree