Generations in the making: Varney’s blueberry farm

CHESTERVILLE – Up in the highlands of Chesterville, where the wild blueberries grow especially sweet, the latest generation of the Varney Family Farm is learning to cultivate the precious crop once again.

Over the acres where East Road meets Sanborn Hill Road, the Maine native berries are bright blue now and just begging to be picked. Peggy Varney pointed towards a large field and smiled.

“It’s a good blueberry year,” she said. “Maybe better than last year and that was a good year.”

Although blueberries seemed to have always grown on this land of ledge and low pH soil, the tradition of farming them wasn’t always with every generation of Varneys that have lived here.

The Varney family purchased this land in 1885. Included was the homestead built on a small rise in 1830. A  building situated next to the house was the original post office pick up for mail along the pony express route.

“The blueberries were always here. There were no trees, just fields,” Varney said. But, for some Varneys, the farm was a traditional one of cows and sheep. Then George Varney, Chauncey Varney’s grandfather inherited the land and started a blueberry operation with u-pick or we-pick-it-for-you options. But his son, Mel, Chauncey Varney’s father, “decided to heck with it,” she said, meaning the blueberry business when he took over in 1968. He mowed the fields to keep the forest from encroaching, and, as it turned out, that was just fine and dandy with the blueberries. Mel Varney died in 1998 and without his regular mowing over the next years, the fields soon filled in with brush and small tree seedlings aching to get much bigger on that relentless march to return to forest.

After returning each summer for family get togethers, Peggy and Chauncey Varney of Bangor, ended up purchasing the farm property from Chauncey’s mother, Ruth Varney in 2010. Since then they have lived from April through fall in the original homestead that has no running water and an outhouse a few steps from the dooryard.

“Living without running water isn’t that fun,” Peggy Varney noted. Neither is an outhouse door that kept freezing shut in April. Varney carried a pick ax whenever she needed to visit the outhouse so she could break up the ice enough to open the door. Close by,  a new home, with all the modern conveniences,  is under construction for year round occupancy.

Any inconveniences have allowed the Varney’s to farm this land’s natural ability to grow wild blueberries. Realizing the blue crop’s potential, the Varneys, who had no previous experience raising the crop, have been on a learning expedition since acquiring the property.

They’ve visited blueberry farms all over the state, they’ve gone to big and little Maine blueberry companies to see their operations, they’ve surfed every conceivable how-to-grow-blueberries site on the internet and the UMaine Extension is almost like family now.

An invaluable local source has been all those growers over on Vienna mountain, just across the valley from the Varneys.

“They’ve been so helpful. We call them and they come right over and are so willing to share,” Varney said. Often the best sources for blueberry harvesting needs are the local farms because they face the same challenges as other local growers.

“Things like how to pack them, what to charge; a lot of these things, you have no clue. We’ve just been learning as much as we can about it,” she said.

Just in their beginner years of growing the blueberries, the Varneys now tend to a total of 22 acres of wild or low bush blueberries. Certain fields are harvested in certain years. The plant needs to be flail-mowed nearly right down to the ground every other year to ensure a best crop the next.

“By pruning, you give it a rest and then get the best berries,” Varney said. Last year, the fields producing, 10,000 pounds of the blue crop were hand harvested.

There have been many lessons, some not so easy, along the way. Turkeys, while great for diminishing the problem insect population, they can also can diminish the blueberry crop just as quick or quicker than bugs. While it seemed like a good idea to have a berry company come and take its pick, they were three weeks late and the crop ended up wasted on the ground. Plant diseases afflicting blueberries, like leaf spot, can be a real devastating problem-or not. Much of that depends on the weather. Luckily, this summer’s weather has been blueberry perfect.

Hand picking the crop may seem tedious, but it turns out it’s better than raking it. With 137 different clone types of the wild blueberry, they can range from sourish to very sweet in taste. Varney and her family of pickers taste test drifts of different varietals to get the best berries to sell.

Chauncey Varney  designed and built and then rebuilt and modified a winnower that helps separate the best berries from the too small ones, leaves and other undesirables. It has revolutionized the operation.

“It’s crude, but does an incredible job,” Peggy Varney said, explaining that now its conveyer belts’ speeds can be adjusted-something new for this harvest season. Tomorrow, several members of the family are arriving to help begin the harvest in what promises to be an especially good year. Reason enough for celebration at the Varney Family Farm.

The farmstand is open this month everyday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. You can call to place an order at 293-2006 or you can come with your family and pick together. Just like the Varneys.