19 Aug - Laundry, Blog Update, Housekeeping, Blueberry Picking, Southers Arrived

19 Aug
This morning we took a break from touring and did some housekeeping, laundry and updated the blog.  There is WiFi available in the "game room" which consists of a kitchen table used for card games; a ping pong table, an air hockey table, a foosball table, and a bookcase of free books.  WiFi signal strength and through-put is really good here and the room is seemingly never used, so it works good to sit here and crunch out the blog.  It is also just across the entry way from the building that houses the laundry machines.

After the work was done, we had lunch and then headed up the road about 6 miles to a blueberry farm.  The grow commercially but they also have a 'pick-your-own' area too.

Like everyone else up here, the owner and his wife were both very cordial and tolerant of our questions.  Wild blueberries like we saw near the coast of Maine grow on small bushes that are near to the ground.  The berries are smaller but are supposedly the sweetest.  The "high bush" blueberries up here in Aroostook County are hybrids and the bushes are large like a hedge.  The berries can get pretty big also and have a sweet flavor.  The farmer advised he grows 24 different varieties.  He sells to stores like Hannaford which is like an IGA or Hy-Vee at home.

The "pick-your-own" farms charge $3.00/lb and if you don't want to pick your own they are $6.00/lb.  We picked for about 15 minutes are easily got 2 lbs, and that was with Doreen doing most of the picking and me doing the picture taking!

After picking our blueberries we headed across the road to their commercial operation to have a look at a harvester.  The machine is a simple but effective design.  It is driven down the rows aside a small tractor.  As the bushes pass through the machine, a spring-loaded plastic "floor" opens up, but remains snug up against the bottom to catch falling berries.

Hydraulically-powered plastic arms gently shake the bush and the ripe berries fall to the "floor"  where they roll to a small conveyor and onto trays.

The trays on both sides of the machine are about the size that bread is delivered to grocery stores and they are switched out with empty ones when they become full

The owner's wife was prior Air Force.  She worked for Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) in Germany as an illustrator.  She drew a picture of their blueberry farm and had postcards of them for sale in the office.  She gave one to Doreen and I since we came here from Iowa and were interested in their operation.  I took a picture of the same scene she drew.

It was a very interesting visit to the blueberry farm, not to mention some delicious treats.

At 5pm the Ernie and Rhonda Souther met us at the Loring Heritage Center so we could confirm our plans for the weekend.  Ernie was not feeling the best, so we did not stick around long and they headed back to their hotel.

Nice evening at the campgrounds.  Becoming very full for the weekend.  One of our sunsets over Aroostook County Maine!