My family has known blueberries for more than 60 years. Before I was born, my grandfather planted a patch in Pennsylvania, where I grew up. I learned

The Delicious Origins of the Domesticated Blueberry

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2022-05-16 12:00:04

My family has known blueberries for more than 60 years. Before I was born, my grandfather planted a patch in Pennsylvania, where I grew up. I learned how to mow around the bushes and how to eat too many. In the 1990s, my wife and I moved to the mountains of Virginia and started our own blueberry farm—1,000 bushes on a single acre. In the process, we created and operated one of the first certified-organic, pick-your-own blueberry farms in the mid-Atlantic. Customers packed our field and picked the bushes clean, so that we sold several tons every season. After 12 years, we left that farm to pursue other ventures, and, even then, we still planted 50 bushes on our new farm, just for the two of us. We wanted good food and good health, and we wanted to keep these exquisite plants close by, because blueberries are beautiful in every season. In spring, their cup-like blooms scent the air; in summer, their branches bend to the ground, heavy with fruit; and in fall and winter their leaves and stems turn an astonishing bright red.

So I’ve spent much of my life working among blueberries—planting, pruning, picking, and eating. None of that could have happened without the work of Frederick Coville and Elizabeth White, two strangers who domesticated the blueberry together.