On a recent road trip through the beautiful Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, the boy and I got the idea to pick some berries somewhere. Since he used to live in the area, he knew of Blueberry Acres and suggested we go there. We weren't sure if blueberries were even in season yet or if they would be open, but luckily we arrived to find the fields open for business!
We came around 4pm on Natal Day so it was quiet, but a lovely warm and sunny day. The "Blueberry Express" picks (no pun intended) you up at the main building and drops you off out in the field, which is nice and convenient. They also give you a handy bucket to hang around your neck and place your berries in as you pick, then a large box to empty the buckets into when they start to get full. A worker directed us to a section to start and there were quite a few delicious ones ripe (literally) for the picking.
If you are not a fan of crowds, it is better to go early in the season like we did because (apparently) if we had gone two weeks later there would have been way more people. There were a few bushes that were not quite ready to go, but we didn't have trouble finding ready-to-pick ones. Also, if you are easily rattled, you may find the crow-scaring tactics to be a tad jarring (every few minutes a loud noise resembling a jet taking off shoots through the field and would give you a mild heart-attack if you did not know where it was coming from. Once I got used to it, I barely noticed it, but the first few times can freak you out a little bit!)
After you have had your fill of picking, you grab the bus back to the main building where they weigh your haul and you pay up. They charge approx. $2 per pint (we picked about 8 pints, so our total cost was $16). For those of you that don't know, a pint of blueberries costs at least twice that at the grocery store normally, so it is an incredible deal if you don't mind putting a little effort in. 8 pints will last us forever, especially if we freeze portions and can eat them year-round! (and trust me, they are DELISH - the boy and I did enough taste-tasting that we can say that definitively). Friends of ours picked a full box, which was about 11 pints/lbs, FYI.
There is a great-looking restaurant on-site called Between the Bushes, for which I have heard good reviews, but alas we did not have time to visit (you can look it up separately on Yelp and read others' reviews). However, I would recommend the U-pick any day! The methodical and quiet work, combined with the beautiful and warm sunshine in the green, green fields made for a very peaceful afternoon. read more