Blueberries for the picking

If Montrose weren’t having its own blueberry festival this weekend, one might think the place to be would be New Milford.

At Hilltop Berry Farm, run by the Osborne family, on Osborne Road in New Milford, it’s not the berries that give the popularity of the farm away.

It’s the cars.

Richard Osborne sayid that his farm has been in operation since 1949, and that consumers begin to arrive early in the morning, with 150 cars parked on the property in the morning.

By afternoon, there are at least 300-350 cars there at one time. “It’s like the Harford Fair here,” Osborne said with a chuckle.

“This year, we started three weeks early because of the weather, and we were picking by the second of July, which has never happened before.”

Osborne said that his 13 acre farm has seven main varieties of high bush blueberries, but that there are a total of 13 varieties on the premises to be picked. He also has commercial berries being picked by his staff, and has his wooden crates made on site to handle the volume.

There are more than 11,000 blueberry plants in production, he said.

“You Pick” blueberry farms like Osborne’s plant high bush varieties, because they are much easier for customers to harvest.

In Susquehanna County, there are many “You Pick” blueberry farms to choose from, including Jayne’s Orchards, operated by Roger and Jeannie Jayne, in West Auburn; Penn-Can Berry Farm, owned by Mark and Terry Oakley, near the Gibson exit near the Flying J Plaza; Herrick Hill Huckleberry Farm on Airport Drive in Herrick north of Laceyville.

At the Montrose Farmers’ Market on Friday at Courthouse Square, Klatchak’s Nursery from Auburn Center, was selling blueberry bushes, and had several varieties for sale at $10. The nursery stock will be available during the Blueberry Festival at the Farmer’s Market area by the gazebo.

Montrose Produce always has blueberries for sale by the quart, and nursery stock bushes for sale outside, according to Debbie Russell of Russell’s Farms. Her blueberries are grown locally, within Susquehanna County, she said. Russell Farms has been planting 2,000 blueberry bushes, and expects to have “You Pick” blueberries available for next summer.

Osborne said that the blueberry season can last as long as September or even October, weather permitting.

The weather has been perfect this year, resulting in a long harvest and sweet berries. Although his farm is not certified organic, he controls weeds by cultivating and hand pulling, and fertilizes in the fall with half a pound of Epsom salts per plant, which provides magnesium, a mineral generally lacking in Susquehanna County soil.

Plenty of blueberries and blueberry products will be available at this weekend’s 31^st Blueberry Festival in Montrose.