2011 - Status of Varieties Blue Crop - Picked out Berkeley - Picked out Jersey - Picked out Elliott - A few berries left - hard picking Little Giant - Picked out Blue Gold - Picked out

Corin Meehan and Mary Whitworth picked the bucket that brought our 2011 season total to three tons of berries picked. They are shown here with Colby the official blueberry greeter dog.

Marianne and John Scott picked the bucket who brought our 2011 season total to two tons of berries picked. They are shown here with Colby the official blueberry greeter dog.

Mimi and Eben Lang were the lucky pickers who brought our 2011 season total to one ton of berries picked. They are shown here with Colby the official blueberry greeter dog.

Blueberry picking continued strong during the 2010 season. The lucky pickers who helped us reach the three-ton benchmark on August 28 were Peter and Karen Cutrone from Denmark. Presenting them with their 3-ton certificate is Stella Fillmore-Patrick (r) and Colby the official blueberry greeter dog.

Beth Chagrasulis, a regular blueberry picker at Crabtree’s Blueberries from Standish was the lucky picker who brought the total berries picked to two tons so far this season on August 3, 2010. She is shown here with Colby the official blueberry greeter dog.

Grace and Bob Davis from Limington, ME, were the lucky blueberry pickers on July 25, 2010 who brought the total berries picked at Crabtree's Blueberries to one ton so far this season! It has been a great year for blueberries and the picking is easy. The first ton benchmark was reached after only 7 days of picking, with many more tons predicted this season. Shown here with Grace and Bob is Colby the official blueberry greeter dog

Colby, the official blueberry greeter dog, romps through the fallen autumn leaves as he awaits his first customer of the day.

Surprised two early blueberry pickers one morning on my way out to open up for the day (Sept 26, 2009). They didn't stick around to pick anything though - they could have had all the berries they wanted if they'd have stuck around for folks to see 'em. These are the first moose we've seen in our yard this year so far.

Laurie Ettus and her friends, visiting from Framingham, Mass, were the lucky blueberry pickers who brought the total berries picked at Crabtree's Blueberries to two tons so far this season on August 20, 2009! Shown here are (l-r) Steve Luoma, Jennifer Meunier, Laurie Ettus, Corinne Myers, and Jay Lanzafane. Front center is Colby the official blueberry greeter dog.

Vackie Kennil and Darby Shea visiting from Minot, Maine were the lucky blueberry pickers who brought the total berries picked at Crabtree's Blueberries to one ton so far this 2009 season! Shown here are Vackie (l), Darby, and Colby the blueberry dog.

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.

The Blue Crop berries are big and sweet and are the first berries to ripen each year.

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 about 600 highbush blueberry bushes. They are now more than 25 years old and bear sweet, juicy blueberries the size of your thumb. The head-high bushes literally bend over under the weight of clusters of berries.

Since 1998 we have more than doubled the size of the berry patch with 900 new plantings. 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 eat 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 the end of September most years. It is not unusual to have good blueberry picking into early October, until the first hard frost comes and ends the picking season. 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 Sept 13, 2011.

Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 by Allen Crabtree