After my enjoyable bike ride through the West Eugene Wetlands, I headed up Royal Avenue toward Fern Ridge Reservoir on my way to Green Hill Aire Blueberry Farm. There was a large down-homey sign on the corner with an Oregon Blueberry Growers Association banner on it pointing the way to the orchard.
They have a nice setup with white buckets that they insert a blue plastic bag into for ease of transfer. They sell by the bucket load instead of by weight so that they don’t need a certified scale. Each bucket weighed about 6.5 lbs.
I enjoyed the visit as the blueberries are planted on the slope of a pleasant pasture covered hill. The bushes were bursting and the berries sweet and rich flavored. It is the closest u-pick blueberry site to Eugene so it was very busy. There was a nice community feeling to the visit with lots of families with kids (teens even!) chatting and picking and laughing.
Here is the rightfully happy and satisfied farmer (i believe his name is Stan Hunsdon) with his wife at the check out stand. They were quite friendly and we had a lengthy discussion of digital cameras. We’ll be back next year for sure.
TIP:
If you have a lot of fruit coming on, especially berries and soft stone fruit, and not enough time to juice it all, put the produce in gallon freezer bags and place in the freezer till you have more time. Then juice the berries frozen. There is minimal difference in results (a bit more pulp perhaps) and you don’t waste any precious fruit.
Take Care
Daniel
