A year in review and what’s next!

Dear Friends,

All this snow, cold and wind has slowed our progress with the annual blueberry pruning. Each year I color in a farm map, section by section, recording the pruning progress in the field. I use a different color pencil for each month. As of this writing it does not look like maps of recent years. There are a lot of uncolored sections. This makes me feel a bit anxious. I know farmers need to roll with the weather and hope for a better next year, but for me this is a work in progress.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m loving this snowy WNY winter, and so are the blueberry bushes. They prefer consistent cold and snow cover. When I’m not pruning I enjoy all the beauty and quiet as I trek through the woods and across the farm on my snowshoes or X-country skis. For kicks I sometimes slide down the driveway on my antique Flexible Flyer to pick up the mail. It beats falling down the hill when it’s slippery.

On the farm we’ve observed weather changes over the last decade. We’re seeing later first frosts, warmer autumns, and less sustained snow cover and cold temperatures during the winters. We have transitioned to pruning throughout the winter, beginning sometime in November (after 600+ hours of degree days at 45° or less). We wait for the blueberry bushes to become dormant, allowing the carbohydrates to move down into the root system, a process called acclimation. This helps the plant prepare for winter. Pruning before a plant is dormant can stimulate cane growth and cause it to be more susceptible to winter-kill and disease. Fall growth will also not have enough time to develop fully and will waste a plant’s energy.

PRUNING during the winter does mean extra work for us. After a snowstorm I need to clear the essential farm roads and then use a heavy-duty leaf blower to remove snow from the crowns of blueberry bushes. This allows the pruning crew to trim down as low as possible. There are periods when we cannot work because the snow is too deep or heavy or the temperatures too low. You can also imagine that working in the snow is a bit slower too.

After a snowstorm I use a heavy-duty leaf blower to remove snow from the crowns of the blueberry bushes.

As I was growing up on the farm I don’t recall my family ever pruning through the winter. Sometime in September with a killing frost or two in the forecast, blueberry pruning would begin. During the winter my family enjoyed some down time and earned extra income, subbing as a school teacher, accounting, piano tuning. With this winter turning out to be more consistently snow covered and cold, I’m reminded of how it use to be. I’ve had more time to reflect and plan. I’m trying to embrace the way it is going and not focus on the lack of color on my pruning progress map.

2023-2024 Seasons in review. On average we have been experiencing shorter blueberry seasons. The 2023 Season was 4 weeks long, and the 2024 Season 5 weeks. Both seasons were shorter than our historical ranges (6-8 weeks at least). Both were due to very different weather conditions or extremes. It is helpful to understand this when planning your summer visits. It’s increasingly difficult to make long range predictions or plans regarding opening and closing dates. I am so grateful for your responsiveness to our messaging on social media, the website, Google and the information phone line. You are the best community ever!

The 2023 blueberry season was shortened due to a late May killing frost. The blueberries that would normally be ready earlier in July were destroyed with the frost. The farm opened almost two weeks later and we experienced too many berries ripening at once with significant waste as a result.

In contrast the 2024 blueberry season started on July 11. Over the last 10 years the second week of July has become our new average opening time. At first all seemed normal and the blueberry picking was amazing, magical. But remember 2024 turned out to be the warmest year on record. As the season progressed it became obvious the berries were coming on like a freight train due to the accumulated warmer days. The ripening from variety to variety, succession to succession was occurring at an appalling speed. Again, we could not keep pace. It was a beautiful crop, but the season ended early and abruptly on August 10.

We appreciated customers’ responsiveness to our messaging, “come now, premium picking”. But in 2024, the farm had greater waste of blueberries than we had ever seen. It was heart breaking. I wondered how the we could better handle the weather extremes. . . Will the pick-your-own concept carry on with younger generations? . . . Is the field too big for current demand? . . . We’d already explored mechanical picking and found it very problematic for our farm: $$$,$$$.

SOMETHING NEW for 2025!

Over the last few years I have been thinking about developing value-added blueberry products. The waste of blueberries during the 2023 & 2024 seasons shifted this farmer from thinking to ACTION! Last season I was able to hire some pickers and freeze a small quantity of berries. Finding and affording labor is one of my problems. Lack of time in my schedule is another.

Ann and Sonja, friends of the farm, came to the rescue regarding the problem of too little time. They made value added products happen: trying out recipes, setting up time for us at the Cornell Test Kitchen, even assisting at the co-packer with production of a first test-sized batch. The good news is that two new value added products will be introduced soon and will go on sale during the 2025 Blueberry Season. We look forward to you being a part of this, sharing your thoughts and feed-back. We hope these products will help reduce the waste of blueberries especially during the month of August. I can’t wait to tell you more in upcoming newsletters. You’ll be the first to know!

Peace, love & blueberries…

Amy Edwards

My dog Abby is ready for ACTION!

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