Take Your Pick of Blueberry U-Picks

The lush countryside of Florida’s Adventure Coast is dotted with farms just bursting with blueberries. Grab your favorite shade hat and basket to gather your own sweet April harvest. You have some comfortable, close-toed, good-for-walking-in-fields shoes, right? Good!

Here are some more tips for a fruitful blueberry picking adventure.

Start early
Get in the mood for your best country day ever with breakfast at the Little Lady Cafe in historic downtown Brooksville. Breathe in the aromatic blend of coffee and all your sizzling first meal favorites. Sip your beverage and tuck into a plateful of made-fresh-daily corned beef hash or a hearty 8-ounce rib-eye while browsing our U-Pick and Farm Tours Map, searching your smartphone or even turning pages of an actual newspaper.

Call ahead
Before you go berry-picking, give the farm(s) of your choice a call. Public picking opportunities are seasonal and dependent on crop ripeness. Some operations are bigger than others and may be open limited hours.

Enjoy the drive
What’s a farm fresh adventure without a sensational country drive? Leave traffic behind and enter a shady, sunbeam-sliced world of arching oaks heading west from the Rising Sun Bistro & Market onto Fort Dade Avenue.

Shake Shake Shake – Shake for blueberries
After breakfast, your late morning arrival to the farm ensures that you’re ahead of midday heat but past the wetness of morning dew. Walk among rows of bushes and shake one while holding your container beneath. The ripe berries will plop right in. Farms will generally have some already fresh-picked and available for you too, if you prefer.

Why blueberries? Why here?
Florida’s Adventure Coast is the sweet spot for growing the beloved and super-healthy blueberry. Thanks to our cold-but-short winter and some agricultural ingenuity, blueberries ripen and reach the national market from Florida earlier each year than those grown elsewhere. Custom bred Florida blueberries are fresh, juicy and first to your spring shopping basket.

Did you know? Blueberries are Health Dynamos!

Small but mighty describes the sweet hero of this story. Add a single cup serving of blueberries to your day not just for taste but also to:

• Keep your heart healthy and your cholesterol in check
• Meet your daily fiber requirement
• Get almost 25% of your daily Vitamin C requirement, aiding in the formation of collagen and helping to maintain healthy gums and capillaries
• Promote iron absorption and a healthy immune system
• Gain an excellent source of manganese, which plays an important role in bone development and converting carbohydrates into energy
• Help regulate blood sugar due to its low glycemic index
• Improve nighttime vision and reduce the risk of infection

In addition to these health benefits, studies show that blueberries contain a category of phytonutrients called polyphenols. This group includes anthocyanins which give blueberries their blue color. Research suggests that polyphenols have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that can play an important role in helping to lessen the inflammatory process associated with chronic conditions like cardiovascular disease, cancer and age-related cognitive decline.

Free Family Friendly Fun
Be sure to check out the NEW Brooksville Blueberry Festival on April 28 and 29.

Touted as the Best Little Festival in Florida, this free event features a stellar music line-up, a Kid Zone and loads of blueberry treats.  From pies to wine, celebrate the sweet, beautiful blueberry in April here on Florida’s Adventure Coast.  Don’t miss the fun and your chance to get the blues right here in Florida’s blueberry sweet spot.