Along with scorching hot temperatures and buckets of rainfall, the summer season also brings something a little sweeter: blueberries.
While the little blue fruit is available in grocery stores year-round, the peak season in North America runs June through July.
The Sunshine State hosts numerous blueberry farms, most being located in north and central Florida. Ward’s Supermarket in Gainesville takes advantage of this by buying locally during this time of year.
“(The sales) have been great because blueberries are limited,” said Jeffery Jackson, Ward’s assistant produce manager. “The season is so short. Going into the rainy season, they’ll end up tapering off in another month or so.”
Currently, Ward’s carries both organic and non-organic blueberries from local vendors. Once the season is over, though, the store will revert to buying the product from South America.
“Mainly we look for pricing,” Jackson said. “If they’re plentiful, everyone has them, so we look for a better deal so we can share a better deal with our customers. We also look for quality.”
Quality is also important to Jeanette Mullins, the owner of one of Gainesville’s oldest blueberry farms.
“When we moved here there wasn’t a thing on this land but sandspurs,” the 88-year-old said.
Mullins’ husband started growing berries on the land as a project more than 40 years ago. The farm, located at 1425 NW 156th Ave., is now called Monteocha Gardens, and it’s currently full of berry patches as well as 6,000 cedar trees planted by her late husband.
“He was the second patch in the county to be open to the public,” Mullins said.
When her husband passed 25 years ago, Mullins became the caretaker of the farm.
Since the farm has no irrigation system, Mullins said the product is 100 percent dependent on the weather.
“Two or three years ago, there was not one single berry in that whole patch, not one,” she said. “It’s better this year, but nothing outstanding due to the lack of rain.”
Hoping to break even on the cost of upkeep this year, Mullins would like to have more pickers come out to the property, which is open from daylight to dark seven days a week.
They sell for $4 per pound pre-picked, and $3 per pound if you pick them yourself.
The berries grown at Monteocha Gardens are organic, as Mullins does not use any unnatural fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides.
“I don’t believe in all that. I don’t want to be responsible for poisoning the Earth,” she said. “(The blueberries I grow) are clean so you can eat them while you pick them even though they are small.”
Taylor Hopper, a 20-year-old UF anthropology student, picks blueberries at Monteocha Gardens, a blueberry farm at 1425 NW 156th Ave., on Saturday. The farm's owners have been growing berries for about 40 years.
