Belfast Blueberry Cooperative

(207) 338-3301

We allow Pre-harvest Finger-picking; there are details to read and sign-in sheet in a bucket at the beginning of our woodland path (by the stone parking pull-off, where Greenacre Rd. Lincolnville changes name to Lincolnville Rd. Belmont).  Or call for details.  

Blueberry raking runs from approximately last week in July thru to mid or late August, depending upon Drosophila fruit flies).  

Prices are listed below.  Eating on-site is always free.

Our Belfast Blueberry Cooperative welcomes community involvement.  Individuals and families can help pack and spread tree leaves in November, or various other tasks outside of our harvest season, in trade for PYO blueberry credit.  

We offer PYO with both finger-picking and raking/winnowing that includes lessons and crew support.  We provide table-grade quarts and pints of fresh blueberries to 5 stores and 3 farmers’ markets, plus whole flats of 15 quarts, or smaller more affordable less perfect Kitchen Buckets, to home orders.  

Please call at least a day ahead for PYO or to order berries from our crew:   (207) 338-3301 voicemail, and say your number.

2024 PRICES: (we went up, to try to address more field care needs; please call me with comments on this.)

~ PYO $5/quart or a $3.13/ lb., for raking and winnowing

~ PYO finger-picking $4/quart or $2.50/lb.

~ Kitchen Bucket (we rake & winnow, but don't pour to pick out last bits), about 8 (heaped) quarts or 13 lbs,, $50 (about $3.85/lb.)

~ Flat of 15 Table-grade quarts or about 24 lbs. @ $7.50/quart = $112.50 (~$4.60/lb.), for driveway pick-up at 3 Streams Farm in Belfast

~ Flat of 15 Table-grade quarts or about 24 lbs. @ $8.00/quart = $1.20 delivered   ONLY if you are near our store delivery route (mostly Belfast to Thomaston; sometimes Liberty and Brooks) (about $5/lb.).

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday December 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 2023, 

from 10am to 2pm, 

all individuals and families are invited to help... 

Belfast Blueberry Cooperative put the Cattail & Sky blueberry field to bed for the winter.  Our field is on the east end of Levenseller Mountain īn Lincolnville.  Participants will find little chocolate bears and other prizes, as they spread tree leaves from downtown Belfast onto the low-bush blueberry “vine” or other tasks, AND participants will be “paid” Rake-Your-Own (or Hand-Pick-Your-Own) fresh blueberry credit toward next summer’s harvest.

Angelo the very friendly 3 Streams Farm Jersey steer and his friends the goats may be present. Angelo has a yoke, to pull a sled and help.

Please call 338-3301 and leave a voicemail with your phone number and when you expect to arrive. 

Our parking is a small stone pull-off on the west side of Lincolnville Rd., Belmont AKA Greenacre Rd., Lincolnville, right at the Town Line where the road changes its name, 2 miles from Rt. 52, 3 miles from the Belmont Town Office, or 4½ miles from Rt. 3. From there, follow the green rope up a woodland path and then up to the top of the field (a fairly steep 5 minute walk), where you can view Tilden Pond from above, and Frey Mountain and Mount Waldo!

FALL 2023

Helpers have been found!!! but you may still join us ($18/hr. or $20/hr. credit for PYO blueberries),

 to pack (in downtown Belfast) and spread (on the top half of our beautiful Cattail and Sky Field, 

by the Lincolnville/Belmont town line, on the eastern end of

Levenseller Mountain) fallen tree leaves, 

starting in late October and finishing (hopefully) by the end of November. 

The leaves are spread as a thin mulch which fertilizes, then becomes burn fuel in

spring, to rejuvenate the blueberries.

If you would like to help with our rejuvenating spring burn, we are trading $20/hr. PYO blueberry credit, which comes to 4 raked and winnowed quarts of blueberries per hour of your help - or more if you finger-pick : )  

In early spring we will appreciate field help raking to fire-proof the edges, gathering water, and burning. 

FALL 2022

Elijah, Mary, and Gabrielle sitting, chatting and spreading leaves

Leah  waving, Liza aand Isla hoisting a bag of leaves

Leaving the field, leaf spreading complete, December 5th 2022

Sandra Lee finishing the last patch of leaf spreading, happy in the sunshine on Dec. 5th 2022

Shana spreading leaves, last day!  Sandra Lee pic

Blueberry PYO and Pre-Order Prices August 2023

Eating Berries in the Field is FREE.

Work-Trades of Field Care in trade for PYO Blueberry Credit, $20 credit/hour

of help. Call 338-3301 and leave voicemail with your phone number.

$3/quart (about $1.88/lb) when You Hand-pick (no rakes). See notepad

in white bucket at path by parking, for self-serve details, anytime.

$4/quart (about $2.50/lb) when You Rake and Winnow. Call 338-3301 to

schedule (late afternoons into evening is coolest).

$44/Kitchen Bucket +8 heaped quarts at $5.50/quart, just under 13 lbs

at $3.44/lb. These are raked, winnowed, but not poured into quarts

with fine further sorting.

$105/Store-Grade 15 qt. Flat at $7/quart (about 24 lbs. of blueberries) and You

Come Get It, at 209 back Belmont Rd., Belfast. Smaller orders

sometimes accepted, or you can always split a flat with a friend.

$112.50/Store-Grade 15 qt. Flat Delivered (within our Thomaston, Liberty,

Brooks, Hope, Belfast, Waldo delivery route).

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Straw Party 2021

From Oct. 28 thru November 30, 2020 we packed 519 very large bags of leaves, mostly from roadside piles downtown and from the tall Belfast municipal pile, and spread them on the just-harvested lower 41⁄2-acre half of the field. The leaves offer rich leachates all winter, to restore nutrients lost when we take the berry crop. They also help to hold snow-cover, protecting roots and soil, while sheltering small residents of the field.

(Photo: Amelia, Eric and Shana filling bags on the City pile) (Photo credit: Colin Yarnell)

ANYBODY THAT MISSED OUT and wants to JOIN US NEXT YEAR, for this and other paid or blueberry-credit opportunities, should please call Shana: 338-3301 and leave a voicemail.

WE WILL NEED HELPERS ON THE BURNING DAY, probably sometime in April, ideally when the field is clear of snow with 3-4 dry days in a row, and snow remains in the woods.

Call Shana: 338-3301, and leave a voicemail! (yes, I am being redundant. Help is very welcome!)

In spring 2021, the faded leaves will fuel a traditional burning of the blueberry “vine” to the ground. A bright green flush of new growth will quickly follow, to grow one whole season without fruit. This rested and rejuvenated new vine will hopefully offer us a heavy and sweet crop in August 2022.

Our August 2021 crop will be from the top half of the field, burned with tree leaves last spring and looking beautifully lush and rose-colored even after leaf-drop.

(Photo: WWOOFer Joanna with goats in next year's pink growth, with

newly spread leaf blanket just in view on lower half) (Photo credit: Kelly Bushell) 

Our “natural burn” fire moves quickly and lightly, biocharring twigs and blueberry leaf-drop. This biochar is evident throughout the top inch of our soil - was this from Gary Masalin just since 1990 after he re-created the field? More probably people were spreading and burning vine there long before the 80-yr.-old oaks and pines grew. Our thanks to them, as we suspect this magical black layer holds the moisture, nutrients and soil life that make our crop so reliable and sweet.

We used plastic contractor bags plus one set of new cloth bags, thanks to Griffin’s good deal on a roll of upholstery fabric, Shana’s cutting, and Art’s Canvas strong-threaded sewing services. We hope to continue to add more cloth bags to our system as the plastic ones wear out. Your FABRIC or SEWING can be traded for BLUEBERRY CREDIT!

Thanks to all the downtown folks who raked their lawns, which allowed us to leave the mountain woodlands their own moisture-retention and soil protection. Thanks to Gary Masalin who did used to rake the high woodlands for this purpose, feeding the field for so many years, and who raked the road and ditch for us this year.

(Photo: Blueberries were ripe enough for hand-picking on July 8th, 2020)

THANKS TO ALL OUR paid and/or blueberry-credit HELPERS. We did so much, so endlessly, and SO WELL!

ANYBODY THAT MISSED OUT and wants to JOIN US NEXT YEAR, for various paid or blueberry-credit opportunities, should please call Shana: 338-3301 and leave a voicemail. (yes, I am being redundant. Help is very welcome!)

(Photo: Blueberry rake with berries, August 2020)

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*Wild BLUEBERRIES* We-Pick and U-Pick on our land off Lincolnville Rd. on the Belmont/Lincolnville town line.  Certified Organic on July 31st, 2020!

We just started raking! 

The winnower will be there from Tuesday, July 28th on.

You rake and use our Emile Rivers classic winnower,  $4/qt.

You hand-pick, $3/qt.  (Our heaped quart = 1.6 lbs.)

We rake and winnow a "Kitchen-grade" bucket, $44./13 lbs.

(about $3.12/lb.)

We rake, winnow, sort and pour Store-grade Pints and Quarts,

$97.50/15 qt/flat ($6.50/qt.), Field or Farm pick-up = $4.06/lb.

Store wholesale prices vary by delivery loads and distances.  Call us!  338-3301.