“I am a blueberry-picking-machine,” Ethan, my four-year-old, announced at the breakfast table, as we planned a family trip to Parks Blueberries in Bothwell to turn some blueberry picking farm work into a bit of fun for Ethan and his three-year-old brother, Jonah.
“That means,” Ethan continues, “I can eat blueberries while I pick them.” I expect that’s frowned upon by the owners, but we liked his enthusiasm and would only allow the occasional taste test to maintain quality control. On the 20-minute drive from Chatham, we reminded him we were going to the farm to bring blueberries home as a takeaway option, not eat as we picked for an on-farm dining experience.
“But I’m a blueberry-picking-machine,” he repeated.
At least with this attitude we were hopeful that his productivity would be plentiful. To gauge that productivity, once we arrived at the welcome station on the farm, each of us were handed a bucket to collect and weigh our yield. The staff let us taste samples of the six different varieties currently in bloom – Northland, Bluecrop, Nelson, Reka, Duke, and Legacy. Some were sweeter, some a bit larger, some tarter. We were told the sweetness of the Northland would convert any picky fruit eater. This was helpful because we were in the market for a remedy to appease a picky eater. Jonah has a poor track record with liking many fruits.
We decided to try Northlands first, hoping to get a good selection for Jonah. Getting children involved in their food choices, by planting backyard gardens or cooking meals together, helps them be more receptive to a wider selection of food. We were hoping that harvesting our own supply of blueberries might have this effect on Jonah.
The blueberry fields cover 50 acres and a tractor-pulled wagon delivered us over bumpy fields to the Northland section. Overhead were swathes of netting, fifteen feet off the ground, covering all the blueberry acreage. The ceiling nets overhead and the mesh walls around the perimeter of the fields were put up when the berries start to appear in June to keep out birds that would help themselves.
We puttered along the fields past endless rows of tiny blue specks as far as the eye could see. Some of the bushes were chock full of berries; more than I’ve ever seen in my family excursions to Algonquin Park where I first encountered the blueberries that grow wild in the Canadian wilderness. With these larger domestic bunches, it was best to cup your hand underneath, wiggle your fingers like you’re tickling the underside of the berries, and sprinkle them into your open palm. They just tumble into your hand in piles. Our boys were more adept at picking the berries one by one, but even with this slower approach they were wildly entertained by dropping the berries in their buckets.
We kept checking if Jonah had tried any as he was picking, but his usual response was, “I can’t.” Translation being that he is persistent in refusing to try new fruit. We certainly wanted Jonah to like them, given the nutritional stature of such a small fruit, but only time will tell. They are a powerhouse fruit with higher levels of disease-fighting antioxidants than any other fruit. Even though Jonah was adamant in his refusal to eat them, he was overly exuberant about picking them. I thought it might seem daunting, those diminutive fruits having to fill a bucket to feel like you’ve gathered anything that will be worthwhile later. But for our pint-sized pickers, it was a task they didn’t seem to tire of for many hours. Even though Ethan was calling it work, it seemed to be fun work for the time being.
But the few hours we spent is nothing compared to nearly 40 years the Parks family has been farming this 70 acre farm when Bill and Diane Parks first planted the blueberries in 1978. They discovered early in their farming career that part of their land had very acidic soil not suited for many types of cash crops, but blueberries would thrive in such conditions. The U-pick side of the business was introduced in 1983 and can be enjoyed by locals for the entire blueberry season from early July to September, with different varieties appearing during different times of the summer.
The farm is also home to a country store and café, which is filled with blueberry baked goods of all sorts: scones, muffins, Danishes, turnovers, waffles, pancakes, coffee cakes, and awardwinning pies. But it doesn’t stop at that. This café has blueberry everything! There are jams, smoothies, salad dressings, teas, blueberry-infused maple syrup, and blueberry chicken salad sandwiches. It’s a little bit of heaven for bakers, not only with fresh and frozen berries and pie crusts, but also blueberry-covered oven mitts, coffee mugs, and tea towels.
Given their expertise in the world of blueberries for almost forty years, the Parks family has been sharing recipes in an annual brochure. There is also Mrs. Parks’ Blueberry Cookbook, co-authored by Diane Parks and her daughter Holly Ford, with over 200 blueberry-themed recipes for preserves, marmalades, cheesecakes, tiramisu, sorbets, margaritas, juices, smoothies, waffles, granola bars, and trail mix. There are even a few nonculinary beauty products using natural ingredients, such as Blueberry Facial Scrub.
Blueberries picked by the staff are available fresh or frozen, with prices in the store being approximately $5 per litre. This is double the price of those picked by your own hands, meaning the extra work is fun and profitable at the same time. At the weigh station, we ended up with 9.08 pounds, costing $23.00. Back at home, these two buckets amounted to a pancake breakfast, one big delicious pie, and endless handfuls on yoghurt and ice cream. Not to mention the occasional sweet burst in our mouths every time we passed the bowl on the kitchen counter for the next few days. For most of us, that is; Jonah is still to this day on his blueberry moratorium.
