Blueberry U-Pick

2023 DSF Blueberry UPick

  Let me start this by welcoming our new team members to Dragon Spring Farm. Our son Steve and his wife Lisa moved onto the farm during this weird winter. They endured lots of rain, mud, falling trees and much more and somehow came out on the other end to a beautiful spring. I’m seeing the benefits of all that water, and am expecting incredible crops of apples, blueberries and avocados.

  It’s been great to have more family here, and they’ve been a blessing as Mike and Carol aren’t getting any younger and just can’t keep up with it all anymore. But we’re already seeing the tide turn from the cavernous ravine we found ourselves sliding into the last couple of years.

   Many of you reading this will remember that 2022’s UPick was a disaster. We had to close down after two weeks because there was just no more fruit. I’d like to blame it on climate change, but the truth is that weather is like an untamable bucking bronco. The Central Coast is known to be frost-free after Feb. 15th. This may be largely true, but for the last years we had late freezes, including a hard freeze in late March that dropped all of a beautiful crop of berries last year. Everything! The berries did flower again, but the yield was late and small.

  As I write this, it’s the middle of May and we still have a lovely crop of berries. The only slight problem is that because of the very cold winter and early spring, we will have to start the UPick late. My best guess at this time is about the middle of June. It will be posted on the website as soon as we are confident we can meet our customer’s needs. That’s the update. We look forward to seeing everyone.

~Mike Broadhurst