Farming at Perseverance Farm

Starting in the Spring, every season except Winter is busy and every season is beautiful! 

Nancy moves her office to the pickup truck, and heads out to the fields, where wild irises thrive with the blueberries.

Bees are crucial to blueberry farms as they pollinate the flowers so the fruit can set.

Summer is beautiful in Northern Maine.  The black flies leave around July 4th.  There is plenty to do in preparation for the ripening blueberries.  In addition to ensuring all the tractors, winnowers, and other equipment is ready for harvest, the blueberries are inspected daily for any agricultural surprises.  In early August, we jump into action for the 3-week harvest window.  The blueberries are picked, then cleaned and sorted with a new 5-part processing machine.  All the berries are sold locally.  Pick-your-own is open for the entire 3 weeks.

In the past, a large mechanical harvester was used to collect and winnow berries for the freezer plant.

Customers use antique winnowers to clean their hand-raked berries.  The old gas engines have been converted to electric.  
The results are PERFECT!

A large part of the crop used to undergo a three hour drive to Ellsworth for freezing, but now all berries are sold locally.

In the Fall, the plants are cut back in preparation for the winter.  In our free time, we "harvest" ROCKS.  Friends, family and employees enjoy the annual "Get the biggest rock out of the field without killing any blueberry plants" Contest. These rocks come in all sizes and shapes, and are also available for sale - please call with inquiries! 

All of the fields enjoy de-rocking in the fall, winter and spring!  you won't find boulders like this in Florida!  Yet another reason to love Maine.
 

These old rock walls are located near the True Ames homestead on the farm.  They were built without the benefit of modern equipment, using hand labor, stone boats and a team of horses.  Everyone worked long and hard, only to have to do it again year after year as Mother Nature works the rocks back up through the soil with frost action.  It's amazing what was accomplished with a minimum of equipment and with a lot of good old fashioned labor and Yankee ingenuity.