LYME, N.H. -
It's opening day for pick-your-own berries at Super Acres Blueberries, and the experts are already out.
"We want to get some plump, nice and round, and nice blue like this," said Oscar Miller of Lyme.
The bushes at the Lyme, N.H., blueberry farm were planted over 25 years ago. But this is a historic year.
"This is actually the earliest we have ever opened," Patrice Super said. "It caught me a little by surprise. I wasn't quite ready and I was like, 'oh my God, those berries are blue.'"
Growers do not know exactly what's behind the early start, but they do have their theories.
"I don't know if it's because of that really warm stretch that we had back there and it might have gotten things going a little quicker. We've had a lot of rain which I think has been nice for them. And we have had actually, I think, a pretty good combination of rain and sun," Super said.
At the Ward's Berry Farm in Strafford the same is true-- an early start to this year's crop by about two weeks.
"We just netted the bushes this weekend because they are really turning blue quick," Karen Ward said.
The growers there have not opened to the public yet-- probably in about a week. But they say it's looking like a bumper crop.
"It is a phenomenal crop this year," Ward said. "We have a lot of blueberries this year."
Back in Lyme, as pounds of freshly picked berries are weighed on the scale, you can almost taste the homemade pies.
"The more bigger ones, they are the sweetest. So that is why I look for those. But these little types around here sometimes taste like sugar," Miller said.
The pick-your-own season usually lasts about five weeks. So, an early start could mean an early end. But as Mother Nature is proving this year, she's often unpredictable.
The nonprofit Vital Communities is a resource in the Upper Valley for local farming. Click here for more information.
