Hard Labor Creek Blueberry Farm

06/01/2019

First my apologies to everyone for taking so long to talk about the current season. We did a lot of maintenance and I have been waiting and wondering about the quality of this year’s crop. I’m sorry to say that the yield is low and the berries are rather small. Since I never want anyone to drive an hour or more just to find out that the crop is not satisfactory, Sharon and I have decided to not open for the 2019 season. Believe me that this was a hard decision to make but it is probably best for the bushes and for you. We do expect to be back in full swing next year, so please do check in about April. Thank you.

07/17/2018

Hello all. Sharon and I did an orchard inventory this evening. Just got back. We went to the best row and picked for about 40 minutes. Our total take was 1.25 pounds, and the berries were small, aNd that was the best row.

Last Sunday, someone drove here from Atlanta to pick, and got less than 2 pounds.

As I said, on opening day, I will be totally truthful with you about the quantity and quality. My goal is to give you a great experience more than making money. The last thing that we want to do is disappoint anyone. Therefore, I would like to say that we are closed for the season. We will not be open this Wednesday nor this upcoming weekend. We will continue to make posts during the off season when we help host different events, so check in occasionally to follow us. And please, check in next year.

07/06/2018

We are sorry to announce that we will be closing for a few days to allow the blueberries time to regenerate. This is necessary to ensure that the supply of blueberries is enough to accommodate all of our blueberry loving customers. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. The upcoming days of operation will be:

Saturday 7/14. 7:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M.
Sunday 7/15. 7:00 A.M. to.1:00 P.M.

06/26/2018

After looking at the berries, we feel that it will be necessary to NOT open tomorrow, Wednesday 6/27. This is necessary to allow the berry yield to regenerate after Saturday and also to do some crop maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause anyone, but we feel it is necessary to maintain the viability of the crop. If you have any questions, feel free to call.

06/23/2018

Opening day today. What a day. I am still stunned. The number of pickers was easily over 100. Everyone collectively pulled over 600 pounds of blueberries out of the orchard. It seems, based on the remarks when checking out, that everyone enjoyed themselves. I am certain that a lot of it had to do with Sharon’s wish that we have 75 Degrees and overcast, which is what we had. I especially enjoyed it when every child looked totally clueless when they started, but they completely understood when checking out and proudly offered their pickings to the weigh out. Check our pictures.

Now for the downside. So many berries were picked today that the prospects for tomorrow must be considered. There was serious depletion today. The “Bubba” bluebs are gone. Big and fat are depleted. We have berries, but they are smaller. Manage your expectations for tomorrow. If you want to leave with 1 or 2 pounds, and are willing to bring a ladder, we will be here. Otherwise, if you want to leave with 15 pounds from eye level picking, it would be best if you waited until next week. A lot will be rejuvenated by then. If still undecided, call.

Thank you everyone for a wonderful picking day and hope to see you soon.

06/22/2018

Hello! We are so excited to be opening tomorrow. Lets all hope the weather cooperates. It would be nice if it were 75 degrees and partly cloudy but let's not get our hopes up. Please prepare for hot, sunny weather. If you need it, we will have insect repellent available but you need to supply your own sun screen. We will have bottled water ($.50) and Gatorade ($1.00) to purchase. Hope to see you tomorrow and happy picking!

06/19/2018

As you can see from the pictures that I took on Sunday, I believe we have crossed the ripeness threshold. So we here at the farm are pleased to announce that the 2018 picking season has begun.

Schedule: The orchard needs a period of replenishment every week. At this point, we don’t know what the initial demand will be so we aren’t sure how many days we should be open. Therefore we want to schedule the first few weeks one week at a time. This week we will be open on Saturday 6/23, Sunday 6/24 and Wednesday 6/27; all from 7:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. We will announce next week’s schedule this time next week.

Price: We are not raising our prices for 2018, but we would like to standardize our pricing unit. U-pick will still be $2.00 per pound. Last year our pre-pick price was $24 for a bucket, which usually came to 6 pounds. This year, we will charge $4.00 per pound for pre-pick. This works out to the same price per pound, but charging by the pound will allow us to sell smaller pre-pick quantities.

Payment: Our card swiper is sitting in a warehouse in North Carolina right now. As soon as we get it we will be able to accept Visa, Master Card and American Express. However, the first week will probably be cash only.

We here at the farm believe that the activity of picking blueberries is about more than just the fruit. Everybody says that it is their chance to shut out the outside world and just let their mind soar. I call it Zen. When you visit us this summer we want to do everything we can to make your visit enjoyable. Come pick some berries, relax your mind, pet the goats, catch a frog, and listen to all the birds. And then you also get to take home something delicious and good for you.

See you soon. Just make sure you check Facebook and our web site for any updates before you come.

06/12/2018

I guess that now is the time to speak about opening day. We have been having problems trying to decide if we will open this weekend or next. We were visited today by the prior managers of the farm, Greg and Allen, and they agreed with our assessment, and also added some other points. It appears that we were affected by the late freeze this year. The early blooming varieties, like Climax, probably started to bloom and then froze. Those rows are quite bare. However, the other, later varieties are doing quite well, just later. Therefore, we will not be opening this weekend and will probably open on Saturday, 6/23. We will post another status this time next week. Oh, by the way, the ripe ones are big and sweet, sweet, and the yield is higher than last year.

Till then.

05/23/2018

05/09/2018

It has been a great, busy spring. So, I made this little video recap to share with you. We hope you enjoy it, we certainly did. But, there will not be any more Spring events because it is time to start getting the berries in shape. Enjoy the video and we hope to see you soon.

05/08/2018

The Social Circle Cub Scouts paid the farm a visit last weekend. They pitched their tents and spent the night and then had a day of activities on Saturday. I was fortunate enough to harvest a lot of smiles for my collection. They had a wonderful time and left with an invitation to come back.

04/30/2018

Saturday was a wonderful day. The farm helped support, in a very small way, a day of mountain bike racing in the Hard Labor Creek State Park next door. As you can see by the number of parked cars, the turnout was good (we supplied the parking lot). This is a part of our new strategy to become more than just blueberries, but a place where people come to for events and relaxing days. Next weekend the Social Circle cub scouts will have a weekend of family camping, weather permitting. I’ll be back next week with more pictures. See you then.