Large commercial farms use over the row blueberry harvesters that damage the bush allowing for infection and the need for fungicides--some of which are so toxic, you cannot harvest the fruit for 60 days after application--most often used on products by countries who export their fruit to the USA--sold at a store near you!  

At Childs, "Our pile of prunings is as big as the farmers market end to end each year. We cut the branches and then drag them to the ends of the rows and haul them to a very large bonfire site. This labor on our part ensures a delicious blueberry and minimizes disease in the bushes. This is one of many ways we labor as "hands in the dirt" family farmers to provide you the safest blueberries possible" Dan Childs 

Dan &  Carrie of Childs Blueberry Farm welcomes you to experience superbly flavored, pest-free blueberries. Our berries are grown on our 100  acre sustainably farmed, Beyond Organic ranch located on the highest hill in Humphrey in soil never touched by the glaciers @ 2250 feet. Blueberries grow wild on mountain tops like ours and that is one factor  in why these berries taste so good and the bushes grow so well.

So Glad YOU Decided to Visit the Home of the Safest, Pest-Free Fresh and Frozen Childs Blueberries

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NUTRIENT DENSE BLUEBERRIES--If you like pest free blueberries, I think Childs Blueberries are some of the best. I would put them up against any blueberry on the planet for taste. Studies show that blueberries grown in the right soil with the right climate and the right organic matter, have substantially more nutrients and anti-oxidants than blueberries grown in the wrong soil--they are "nutrient dense".

SMALL FAMILY FARM MEANS QUALITY AND SAFETY--At Childs Blueberries, we micromanage our fields, continuing to follow Cornell Universities teaching since 1984, by checking pheromone traps daily to monitor for pests. If we catch a pest in one of the traps, we spray with the mildest of sprays where the food can be eaten the next day. It is 200% milder than the spray used on most certified organic produce with less residual. As with preventative medicine, by catching the pest incursion early, we cure it quickly and move on--pest free. For this reason, I believe our way is better and "Beyond Organic". Many times we go years with no spray at all. 

UNIQUE SOIL = UNIQUE FLAVOR--The glaciers stopped about 100 feet down the hill from our farm. One mountain range over is Thunder Rocks in Allegany State Park---also left untouched by the glaciers at the top.  This means the  soil on top of Childs Mountain is perfect for growing blueberries, thus they are nutrient dense--if we plant corn, it grows knee high. The  berries grown in flatlands with the wrong soil type can be chemically adjusted so blueberries will grow but the flavor is just not good and the healthy benefits one desires as an added bonus from a nutrient dense Childs Blueberry is not present and for that matter, neither is the flavor and sweetness.

TASTE THE DIFFERENCE--If you see blueberries and corn or potatoes  planted in the same area then you need to try some of our berries because the two should not grow in the same area.

 We are BEYOND ORGANIC© because we have been doing what organic intended to do since our beginning in 1983 and frankly, big corporations sit on the boards of organic standards allowing so many variances and lab made chemicals, it has become corrupted. There are many shortcuts taken in commercial farming. Things like rubber stamping "organic" on imported products when there is no oversight; labeling an imported frozen product as "packed" or "distributed" in the USA when it is imported in bins and then packaged here; labeling fruit mass produced as "wild"  when in reality it has fungicides, insecticides and herbicides used in the production; some fruit is left neglected, gets infested with worms (Google SWD) but is Instant Quick Frozen (IQF) to hide the problem thus the poor flavor and off taste for much of the frozen organically grown or conventionally grown frozen fruits.

At Childs Blueberries we use Integrated Pest Management. This means instead of spraying with the organic or conventional neurotoxin chemicals, I vacuum up Japanese Beetles off the bush using a shop vacuum. We use vinegar, weed whacking, and mulch to manage weeds --as opposed to commercial organic that creates a brown field (everything dead including the soil microbes) with harsh herbicides, waits three years and then get USDA organic certified which ignores half-life of chemicals used. We use pheromone traps and if we catch one pest, we nip the problem like preventive medicine does using a substance 200% milder than what is sprayed on 99% of the commercially grown organic fresh or frozen produce thus eliminating the problem before it gets a foothold. Our berries are NUTRIENT DENSE. There are more microbes in a teaspoon of soil than people on earth and pesticides kill microbes. Dead soil means the bush can't uptake nutrients as in eat. Our unique soil is alive and we even feed the microbes molasses and our bumble bee population is off the scale!  Only a micromanaged, family farmers can do this because big farms equal big problems.

Yes--we "Hands in the Dirt" farmers are dinosaurs when compared to today's "tractor jockey" farmers BUT for safe, melt in your mouth goodness--there is no substitute for hard work & old world craftsmanship--even in farming. By visiting our farm and picking yourself or buying directly from us at the farmers markets--thus cutting out the intermediary--we can offer superior quality at a fair price...a win for the customer and the farmer. Thanks for your business. Dan and Carrie Childs, Photo 2008