A SHORT, DISAPPOINTING BLUEBRRRY SEASON

BLUEBERRIES ARE THROUGH AT...

...WISCONSIN'S LARGEST BLUEBERRY FARM...

AS WELL AS AT,,

THE SMALLER FIELDS

Thursday, 8:30 AM.  53 degrees F at the ferry dock, 60 on the back porch.  Wind N, very light.  The sky is overcast, cloudy and misty, with fog over the channel.  The humidity is 91% and the barometer is starting to rise, now at 29.66".
   We purchase a lot of blueberries, but since we have been gone so much the last few weeks we had not done so locally as yet this season.   Imagine our surprise, then, when we found all the blueberries gone when we went to put in a supply of both fresh and frozen berries yesterday.
   We couldn't believe the season was over,  it had hardly lasted more than two weeks.  The bushes had looked full of berries.  What had happened?
   I called Rick Dale, proprietor of Highland Valley Farm, Wisconsin's largest blueberry grower out on Sunset Valley Road.  Rick is also an international consultant for USAID, and travels the world advising small fruit growers.  He cited a number of reasons for the small berry crop this year: several winters of very heavy snow which depressed the branches and interfered with pruning; last winter's colder than usual and very erratic temperatures; and a very heavy crop last year which probably robbed the berry bushes of sufficient energy for a good crop this year.  Whatever the complex of reasons, he said the light crop was widespread, and not just regional, but that the bushes looked good and should be ready to produce a normal crop next year.
   So we will have to watch for fresh blueberries at the grocery store (it is now an international crop), and stock up on frozen berries as well.  Blueberries have become a regular part of what we consider a healthful diet, and we will doubtless be paying more for them until next year's local crop is produced.