Time once again to pick blueberries in Michigan

I noticed an uptick in the number of people finding our humble little blog here when they searched for "picking blueberries" or "u-pick Michigan blueberries" and the like. So, I figured it must be that time again when one of the tastiest Michigan fruits were ripe for the picking. A quick call to our favorite local blueberry farm, Locke's Fruitful Acres, confirmed that the picking has indeed begun. One huge local blueberry producer here in southwest Michigan, Leduc Blueberries, will not be having u-pick this year due to "due to extreme winter conditions." My goal this year is to pick around 50 to 60 pounds of blueberries. I had joked about it earlier this spring with my wife as we ran out of frozen blueberries that we had picked last summer that this year we needed to pick at least enough to have one pound of blueberries a week all year long. So, that's the goal anyway.

Locke's said their picking season will last about three weeks so we'll be making a couple of trips over there. It's too hard to pick 60 pounds in one morning with a couple of kids running around. Picking about 30 pounds per visit is much easier. I'll post our results later in the week :).

The blueberry picking season got me thinking about my favorite fruit produced here in Michigan. I would say that blueberries are my absolute favorite. How about you? Vote in the poll for your favorite Michigan produced fruit.

[poll id="30"]

It's blueberry picking time again in Michigan

I spoke with a neighbor today and he said that he bought about 30 pounds of already-picked blueberries the other day from Leduc Blueberries up in Paw Paw. This got me to thinking that I had better see if our favorite blueberry patch was open for picking yet. I spoke with a super nice lady (I believe it was Victoria Locke) at Locke's Fruitful Acres in Decatur and she said that the Duke variety of blueberries are on right now and that picking would begin tomorrow at the picker's own discretion. By this she meant that the Duke variety is a smaller somewhat tart blueberry and if folks come ready to pick the big sweet and juicier varieties they'll be disappointed.

The larger and sweeter variety (my favorite) might be ready for u-pick as early as next weekend. I am ready and waiting :).

Is there anything tastier than fresh Michigan blueberries heaped up on your cereal or ice cream? Perhaps only freezing some of those same wonderful berries so the experience can be parceled out all year long ;).