How it all Started!
Shane and Crystal Pearson have been restoring the old Kennydale Blueberry farm since they bought the overgrown farm in 2014. They’ve made it their mission is to provide great tasting natural fruit and honey to their community by only using hand maintenance and never spraying pesticides or herbicides on their bushes.
Originally the farm was choked in towering blackberry vines, nightshade, morning glory and more. The rows were completely inpenetrable, and the blueberries weren’t accessible. The bushes were dying! Shane spent his vacations, weekends, and evenings after work figuring out how to save the heirloom bushes from being overtaken. By hand, he cleared the rows and carefully pruned each of the over 1000 bushes so they could thrive again.
This is how some of rows of blueberries looked, and this wasn’t even the worst of it! Can you see where there used to be a row?
Now with regular maintenance, the blueberries can flourish. The farm was finally able to open to the public in 2019 after 5 long years of restoration. There’s always more to do at the farm, but with the help of generous volunteers the farm has managed to open during the summers as a chemical-free u-pick for the area’s blueberry lovers.
How the farm looks now with the rows cleared of blackberries and other weeds that made it impossible to traverse the farm and difficult to even reach the blueberries.
The grasses grow very quickly on top of this fertile natural peat bog, it’s a constant effort to keep the paths cleared!
To help pollinate the bushes and have sweet treat to boot, Farmer Shane keeps hives at the farm which give us delicious honey. The spring honey can taste like blueberry flower nectar and the late summer honey can taste of berries from the bees eating the ripe berries! (You may even spot a bee drinking the blueberry juice in the late summer, it’s so cute!)
Breeding queens! See our Honey section to learn more about our bees!
