BY DANI TIETZ
dani@mahometnews.com
Picking a handful of blueberries may seem like a pastime of summer’s past, but Goosecreek Blueberries located just outside of Monticello opened this morning with parents, toddlers, and teenagers combing rows and rows of blueberry plants.
In its third year selling you-pick blueberries, Goosecreek Blueberries opens for three to five days (depending on how many customers come to pick) each June. After the ripe berries have been picked, the business closes for 7 to 10 days to let the green berries ripen, then they open again until they run out.
Owner Ken Landreth purchased the property on 1930 North County Road near DeLand in 2014 after a stint with growing grapes did not produce the interest he was looking for.
“We had a few blueberries at the other place, I didn’t pay much attention to them,” Landreth said. “But then I started reading about blueberries the desire for people to come out and pick them. There are people who travel an hour or two hours away to do this.”
A small, family-owned and run operation, Goosecreek Blueberries has a laid back atmosphere where families can grab a green bucket and head out to the fields to pick berries. When finished, customers weigh their own berries and pay per pound with cash or check.
Landreth purchases the berry bushes from Michigan. He has had some trouble getting the right PH balance and minerals integrated into the soil, but has been able to grow both Duke and Draper variety blueberries on the property.
He also tries not to spray the berries with anything. Because of rising and falling temperatures along with moisture this spring, Landreth did have to spray the plants with a fungicide this year so he did not lose all of the plants.
“Once you get them going they are pretty hardy, but it’s hard to get them started,” he said.
Landreth hopes that as he retires, he will be able to run the blueberry farm full time. He would like to, perhaps, put a pond near the property or plant the world’s largest blueberry variety.
Until then, parents will continue to enjoy bringing their children to the blueberry farm.
Mahomet resident, Erica Kennedy was there with her daughter for the first time this morning. “It’s perfect because it’s just the toddler’s height to pick blueberries,” she said.
Landreth suggests visiting the Goosecreek Blueberry Facebook page prior to heading out to pick blueberries.
