If you're a transplant like many of us are, this is one experience you must try.,,, "Pick Your Own"…read moreblueberries!! At a recent July 4th celebration w friends and colleagues, one had the idea of picking blueberries the following Friday. Initially, I thought it was comical as we're all from the west coast and not quite considered farmers per se. Lol. Yet on the other hand, I thought it would be adventurous and exciting to experience Alabama in a unique and new way. So off we went w the idea. LOCATION & PARKING Gin House Branch Farm's address is Decatur, but it's actually in Priceville. So don't be surprised when your GPS routes you to Priceville, near I-65. Parking isn't exactly clear on the field especially if you arrive early. Once you see the green shed, just park near it. You'll know it when you see it. ;D EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM A group of us met up at the farm field early @ 8:30 AM that [9/80]Friday to beat the torturing heat of the sun and humidity and any possible crowds. We came prepared - hats, sunscreen, bug spray, and for some - tikes and teens to help w the pick'n. Who wants to spend their Summer sleeping in on a weekend anyways?! Lol. ;D Let's just say, the teens weren't exactly excited to be there as the rest of us adults were, but that soon changed. It's really all about the experience and creating memories, right?! ;D Upon arriving, we notice one truck already there - a friend of ours, along w his wife, got a head start. The rest of us rolled up, got our hugs in, chatted quickly, then got our buckets from the picnic table out in front of the office (evergreen colored shed) and headed for the fields. HONOR SYSTEM When no one's at the green shed office, Gin House Branch Farm functions on an honor system. Amazing, right?! Signs are clearly posted w what's available for picking (currently Blueberries in July) and the cost. For everyone's convenience, there is a locked drop box to place your dinero in on the way out. GHBF takes checks and cash only. The cost of blueberries is quite reasonable at $13 per bucket. The white buckets are 5 quarts in size and are available to use for free. Be sure to line them first w the available plastic bags (similar to plastic grocery bags) located on the picnic table, especially if you don't plan to keep the buckets. Just be sure to return them when you're done picking. If you do want to keep them, the buckets are an additional $1 each. PICK YOUR OWN BLUEBERRIES GHBF is one of many farms here in the south. This particular farm is considered a "Pick Your Own" farm where you get to pick your own fruits, veggies and such when in season and as advertised. The first field we went thru was the Muscadines which are known to be the native Southern Grapes. These were not ripe at the time, but were beautiful nonetheless and currently off limits when it comes to picking. So we continued on toward the blueberries in the north field. We were welcomed w rows upon rows of blueberry bushes! Since we've never picked blueberries in the past, I researched it, of course, before our farming adventure. ;D The suggested method of picking blueberries is that one has to "roll" the bundles of blueberries in their hand between the palm and fingers. The ripe purple ones easily detach from the stem while the unripened (pinkish in color) remain on, usually. It's best to do this w one hand while holding your bucket w the other underneath to catch the falling blueberries. However, I learned quickly that it is even better to pick only the BIG blueberries so you don't get the wrinkled or overly ripened ones too. This became our "preferred" method vs the suggested. This method also takes longer to fill up a bucket or two, but definitely worth the time and money invested. Whatever way you choose, you'll get some good ones from this field. VERDICT & RECOMMENDATIONS What an experience we had - waking up early, starting off our day in the company of friends, picking our own blueberries, losing each other in the fields, hearing the laughter of children amidst the bushes, and even having fun trying to find one another afterwards. This is by far one of the most unique southern adventures we've tried since relocating here, while yielding us some of the largest and sweetest blueberries than what we normally would find in local grocery stores. As tempting as it can be to be the first to fill up a bucket amongst friends, leave the competitiveness at home and come prepared to have fun in the calm of the morning. I highly recommend it at least once in your lifetime. Pick enough blueberries to fill 2 buckets and freeze some for the winter and off seasons. If you're juicing like some of us are, I'm sure you'll be back before the season ends as we will. Blueberries are high in antioxidants and perfect for juicing and snacking frozen on a hot-humid day in Alabama. Some of our friends will be making jams and even blueberry pancakes out of them. Go there before the season ends!

There's nothing like the sweet joy of coming home with more blueberries than you could ever…read moreimagine. It took two others and me about an hour to fill a bucket, and there are tons of blueberry bushes to pick to your heart's content. Thank you to the farmers that have graciously opened their field for the public to enjoy and share in the goodness of how fruit should be!

This is a U-Pick or Ready-to-Buy Farm that's simply awesome! We first found it last year when we…read morewere looking for something to do during COVID time. This is our second year coming and I expect we will be coming every year thereafter as well....it's that great! Last year we picked yellow peaches. This year we picked a whole bunch of donut peaches as well as some blackberries! Currently they have yellow peaches, white peaches, donut peaches, nectarines, and blackberries for u-pick. If you are short on time or just don't feel like doing easy labor, ha, they have a farm stand with all these already picked for sale as well. They take cash or check. I see different people manning the farm stand, but they are ALWAYS nice! Check them out, VERY worthwhile!!

My Georgia Family & I came here to pick Blueberries for the first time. Honorary system…read more Pick-Weigh-Leave $ in the slot. There was no attendant today. We were the only ones present & it felt like a private Family picking for us. It was a hot day. It was surely fun. I've picked cherries previously, however, this was first for Blueberries. We picked up about 13 pounds. We plan to alert Blueberry Jam. We would come back again.

Such a fun hour or so. The kids enjoyed the outing so much that we went back the following weekend…read more During that visit, the owner shared that he has a group come pick for the local food pantry! Generosity abounds. Glad I could support this business and enjoy his farm too.

Wonderful market with produce, local beef, Perfect Bite spice blends, and canned goods.read more

The berries were beautiful. The plants were loaded. The…read morestaff was very helpful. And the berries were priced right.

Extremely rude and discriminatory treatment -- would not recommend…read more We had a very unpleasant and upsetting experience at this strawberry farm. During our visit, the staff showed an extreme lack of respect toward us, and the way we were treated felt discriminatory. Before we started picking strawberries, we saw the signs near the farm, but there was no clear rule stating that customers could only pick from one specific row. No staff member explained any such rule to us before we entered the field. However, while we were picking strawberries, one staff member suddenly came over and rudely accused us of moving to a different picking area. Instead of explaining the rule politely, they spoke to us in a very aggressive and disrespectful way and even told us that if we did not want to pick, we could just leave. We did not argue with them and simply continued with our visit. However, after we finished picking and paid, while my friends were taking photos together, the same staff member chased us out from the strawberry field, pointed at us, and loudly scolded us in front of everyone. This behavior was extremely disrespectful and humiliating. This was not just poor customer service. The way we were singled out and treated made us feel that there was clear discrimination involved. We will not recommend this farm to anyone. If you read other Google reviews carefully, it seems this is not the first time customers have complained about rude behavior from the staff. There are also reviews mentioning that they yell at children for eating strawberries and treat people very harshly. A family-friendly farm should make visitors feel welcome, not embarrassed, targeted, or disrespected. We will never come back.

My family & I love this place! It's over an hour for us, but it's a great little day trip every…read moreonce in a while. The reviewer who said prices aren't listed for fruit picking: We did this thing called asking. Not very difficult. We picked a LOT of strawberries & it wasn't cheap, but for as many as we got, wasn't bad at all. I made strawberry cakes & fruit salads and we froze a lot of the strawberries to put in smoothies. Looking forward to picking some other fruits soon.

They don't give out pricing. There is no pricing listed at the farm. Here is what we picked and…read morewere charged $96 yes, NINTY SIX DOLLARS, for less than 20lbs of fruit. Peaches, blackberries and plums. Just the small amount of plums in the photo he charged us $45

Sorry excuse of a pumpkin patch, worst experience I've ever had, great for kids but crowded, kids…read morerunning everywhere with no adult in sight, got shoved by a child while looking at animals in the "petting zoo" if you're going for photos please GO ELSEWHERE, whole place has been modernized. If you have a truck or suv they make you drive through a small stream. The people who run it are nice. Overall will not be returning. Place has changed a lot over the years. I went as a child and had great memories safe to say that's changed and no good memories were made today

What a gorgeous, well maintained farm! The love the "Bennett family" must have for this farm is…read moreapparent throughout. We visited on a Tuesday afternoon so crowds were low, and we enjoyed a reasonably priced concession stand type lunch with handmade fried apple pies! There were so many activities to engage in and many places to explore! Beautiful Fall photo ops everywhere and unique pumpkins available for purchase. The animals were precious, all named, and facts were posted about them! It was a beautiful day with such beautiful land to enjoy. It was tucked away from the city but still close enough to I-20 for easy access. I highly recommend visiting this farm for such an enjoyable family experience!

Lake Martin has a great local food source in Oakview Farms. They sell wheat berries for folks that…read moremake their own bread. They offer u pick blueberries, they make their own goat cheese, eggs, and honey. They also sell a lot of organic and sustainable vegetables and grains. They are also really nice and will take time to educate you about what they sell. We first went there to buy our own bread making supplies and equipment and they took time to educate us about the process. They are just off of Redland Road so they are only about 15 minutes from some parts of Lake Martin. Call ahead to make sure they are open but Saturdays are a great day to go all year. Let the kids feed the goats as you get your own locally made organic food.

Great reasons to take exit 219 off I65 when traveling. It only takes a few minutes to get there…read more Traffic is low. Beautiful orchard & berry farm. Quality produce. Top notch customer service. Offered to carry produce to my car. Directly across the street is an expansive , beautiful, nursery w/ hard to find roses and lovely shop (Petals from the Past). Between these 2 locations, I wanted to pop out a picnic and stay all day.

They had Late peaches watermelons cantaloupes tomatoes a variety of different apples which they…read moregrow there... Asian pears. assorted jar goods .

My friends and I came here for the Summer Shindig last weekend. We had the best time! Admission was…read more$12 and with that we were each able to pick out 5 sunflowers and got complimentary watermelon. There was also hayride, fireworks, cute farm animals, live music, and lots of vendors that day. I can't wait to come back here for more events!

We visited this farm on a school field trip! It's a cute family run establishment. They have a…read moregreat setup with a hayride, pumpkin patch, cotton picking fields, animals, hay bale maze, playground and pic nic eating areas. The employees were so friendly and seemed to genuinely enjoy their jobs! I loved the cotton picking session, it was a bit lengthy on the history discussion and the kids (kindergarteners) lost interest about 10 minutes into the 20 minute speel. Overall, we had a fantastic time! BTW, I hear they do a fun setup for Christmas ;)