As defiant Violet in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” knows, it’s hard to resist the flavor of blueberry — even if it isn’t in chewing gum.
Coastal Point • Ruslana Lambert
Blueberries galore at the Blueberry Lane Farm near Frankford.
Blueberries, one of the few native fruits to North America are hard to resist in any form — straight blueberries, blueberry pie, blueberry muffins, blueberry yogurt, blueberry jam and jelly, blueberry ice cream, blueberry wine — the list is endless.
Blueberry Lane Farm, on Nine Foot Road near Frankford, used to be the old Ryan’s Blueberry Farm. After Joe Webb rode by the property one day, that all changed.
“I was riding by, and I saw the for-sale sign,” said Webb. “I had been looking for land. Mr. Ryan was ready to retire and was willing to do owner-financing, so I bought it. He stayed on for the first year as a consultant.”
That was in 2001. Now, after seven years of 15-hour days, seven days a week, blueberries have become a passion for Webb. When he is not pruning or planting them, or picking them, he is eating them.
“As soon as the first ones are ready from Florida, I’m trying them, testing them out. I love it! My wife gets mad at me. I spend more time here than I do at the house,” he added laughing.
Since 2002, Blueberry Lane Farm has not sprayed chemicals on their blueberry bushes. They are naturally grown, and they use drip irrigation and a compost tea for fertilizer. Webb said the land is ideal for blueberries — high in organic matter and not too sandy.
“They love that soil!” he said.
Webb is considering getting the farm certified as organic and has already been to several workshops on the subject put on by the Department of Agriculture.
With or without certification, it is a labor of love and a family-run business. His wife, Lisa, and his cousin Joan Emerson run the retail store, and all of the farm work is done by Webb and his sister-in-law, Joanne Verdura, with his wife and children helping out sometimes.
Coastal Point • Ruslana Lambert
Blueberry Lane Farm offers a variety of blueberries, fresh picked, or you can pick them yourselves. They also have worked with other businesses to offer ice cream and wine made with their blueberries.
“We are pruning all winter long. We touch every plant by hand,” noted Webb.
The farm has 15 commercial acres and 48 u-pick acres of blueberries, plus about 4 acres of thornless blackberries. They grow 28 different varieties of blueberries.
Blueberry season started this year about June 20 and will run through the first week in August, and blackberries come in season about for the third and fourth week in July. In addition to the berries, they grow cold-hardy Siberian kiwis, a fall fruit that is smooth-skinned and smaller than the typical kiwifruit that might be found in an area grocery store.
Webb says he enjoys meeting the customers — both the new ones and the diehards. He said he has fourth-generation pickers that come out — families who came when the Messick family still owned the farm.
“We have a lady in her 90s that comes with her daughter and daughter’s daughter. They love picking. They have even picked in the rain,” he said. “They called me up one day and asked if they could pick, and I said, ‘It’s raining,’ and they said, ‘Can we come anyway?’ So, I said, ‘If you want to pick blueberries in the rain, come on over!’”
In addition to blueberries, the retail store offers watermelon, sweet corn, cards and coloring books, honey, shirts, hats and visors, eggs, jams, jellies, pies and muffins.
Blueberry Lane’s blueberries can also be found locally at the Bethany Beach Farmer’s Market, Good Earth Natural Food Market, Hocker’s Super Center on Route 17 and G&E on Cedar Neck Road. They can also be found at The Galaxy Restaurant in Ocean City and Skip’s Ocean Organics in Ocean City.
Webb has also worked with Hopkins Dairy Farm in Lewes on a blueberry ice cream, and their True Blue Wine is available for sale at Nassau Vineyards in Lewes, in both sweet and dry versions.
In the future, Webb said he plans to also plant the Dukes variety of blueberry, which is considered a desirable, early-fruiting, disease-resistant variety, and the Elliot variety, so they will have blueberries a little earlier next season.
In addition to the fruit and blueberry farm paraphernalia available at the retail store, they also have a Blueberry Bounce Park available for birthday parties at $5 an hour or $10 a day.
Blueberry Lane Farm is located on Blueberry Lane, which is located off of Nine Foot Road, near Frankford. They are open every day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., in season. For more information, call (302) 238-7043 or visit www.blueberrylanefarm.com online.