Hokum Rock Blueberry Farm
~ pick your own blueberries ~
The farm is now closed for the 2023 season.
Thanks for your patronage.
A note to our patrons for the 2023 season...
There have been speculations and rumors circulating about the future of the farm that need some clarification. Last summer we began to emerge cautiously from the pandemic period which began in 2020. This coincided with the approach of 50 years in business for us and was, and is, time for reflection and change. As we mentioned last summer and reiterated in our Farm Journal posts beginning this past March, we are shifting back to quieter times at the farm.
Yes, it is our jubilee year, celebrating 50 years at the farm, but there will not be a jubilee event other than an acknowledgement of having made it this far. What began as the dream of three people, Steve and his parents, has grown exponentially and successfully over five decades. However, about 7-10 years ago things changed. Operating our farm table with 5 people now required 15 people, some paid hourly, some volunteers paid with a lot of blueberries and gratitude for their help. Prices have gone up every year on labor, required to help keep the farm operational, on products, such as pint containers and boxes, on fuel for the tractors, and the escalating cost of machinery repairs, etc. The Winter Moth and the Drosophila Fruit Fly alongside annual plant diseases have taken their toll, reducing our crop and season. Storms and age have damaged the field netting beyond repair as the price of replacing them is exorbitant. To be honest, more money has gone out every year than has come back in for the past decade. The number of patrons visiting our farm every summer seems to keep growing beyond our capacity to supply enough blueberries for the crowds or parking space in our meadows. At our age, it is not time to expand, but time to downsize.
Our plan is to keep the farm open for as long as we can without paid helpers, without nets, without treating the plants for insects and disease, without importing bees, and without pruning. The plants will survive but they will not be what they once were. We will try to open to the public at least one day this year, and maybe next year. We will still host the Sturgis Pre-School field trip. We will still invite family and close friends over to pick berries privately. So the farm will still be operating but on a different scale. And we hope this means we will return to the quieter more manageable farm it once was until the day, sometime in the future, when we will close completely and the farm will become conservation land. It goes without saying that we are not retiring from our conservation work which requires ever more time and attention these days.
These are our golden years, in which we wear the laurel of our jubilee achievement. We know this will be a difficult transition for many of you, as it will be for us. It will take some adjustment for you, our loyal patrons, and for our staff and many wonderful volunteers and friends, but, in the immortal words of William Wordsworth in Ode on Intimations of Immortality, from Recollections of Early Childhood: "Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower, we will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind, in the primal sympathy which having been must ever be."
There have been speculations and rumors circulating about the future of the farm that need some clarification. Last summer we began to emerge cautiously from the pandemic period which began in 2020. This coincided with the approach of 50 years in business for us and was, and is, time for reflection and change. As we mentioned last summer and reiterated in our Farm Journal posts beginning this past March, we are shifting back to quieter times at the farm.
Yes, it is our jubilee year, celebrating 50 years at the farm, but there will not be a jubilee event other than an acknowledgement of having made it this far. What began as the dream of three people, Steve and his parents, has grown exponentially and successfully over five decades. However, about 7-10 years ago things changed. Operating our farm table with 5 people now required 15 people, some paid hourly, some volunteers paid with a lot of blueberries and gratitude for their help. Prices have gone up every year on labor, required to help keep the farm operational, on products, such as pint containers and boxes, on fuel for the tractors, and the escalating cost of machinery repairs, etc. The Winter Moth and the Drosophila Fruit Fly alongside annual plant diseases have taken their toll, reducing our crop and season. Storms and age have damaged the field netting beyond repair as the price of replacing them is exorbitant. To be honest, more money has gone out every year than has come back in for the past decade. The number of patrons visiting our farm every summer seems to keep growing beyond our capacity to supply enough blueberries for the crowds or parking space in our meadows. At our age, it is not time to expand, but time to downsize.
Our plan is to keep the farm open for as long as we can without paid helpers, without nets, without treating the plants for insects and disease, without importing bees, and without pruning. The plants will survive but they will not be what they once were. We will try to open to the public at least one day this year, and maybe next year. We will still host the Sturgis Pre-School field trip. We will still invite family and close friends over to pick berries privately. So the farm will still be operating but on a different scale. And we hope this means we will return to the quieter more manageable farm it once was until the day, sometime in the future, when we will close completely and the farm will become conservation land. It goes without saying that we are not retiring from our conservation work which requires ever more time and attention these days.
These are our golden years, in which we wear the laurel of our jubilee achievement. We know this will be a difficult transition for many of you, as it will be for us. It will take some adjustment for you, our loyal patrons, and for our staff and many wonderful volunteers and friends, but, in the immortal words of William Wordsworth in Ode on Intimations of Immortality, from Recollections of Early Childhood: "Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower, we will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind, in the primal sympathy which having been must ever be."
Our Golden Jubilee 1973 ~ 2023
~ established in 1973 ~
Proprietors, Stephen Spear & Janice Riley
General Information:
When open to the public, the gate opens at 8am and closes at 10am. By arriving between 8:30 and 9am, visitors can avoid the early rush of traffic. Pint containers and picking trays are provided. Ample parking. Handicap accessible. Bathroom facilities are NOT available in 2023. Cash and checks only- no credit cards. There are chairs under our canopy, as well as water. Pints are expected to be $6.00 this year but we will notify you if this changes.
Blueberry season typically runs from mid-July through mid-August. The farm is only open on day or days posted, which have always varied weekly, depending on the ripeness of berries and the weather. Please check back here regularly for updated postings, especially this year, check our farm sign, or call 508-385-2768 for a recorded message.
Directions: The farm is located at the corner of Hokum Rock Rd & Rte. 134, East Dennis, MA. Approx. #1213 on GPS. Map below.
Email: stephen.spear@comcast.net
Farm Phone: 508-385-2768
When open to the public, the gate opens at 8am and closes at 10am. By arriving between 8:30 and 9am, visitors can avoid the early rush of traffic. Pint containers and picking trays are provided. Ample parking. Handicap accessible. Bathroom facilities are NOT available in 2023. Cash and checks only- no credit cards. There are chairs under our canopy, as well as water. Pints are expected to be $6.00 this year but we will notify you if this changes.
Blueberry season typically runs from mid-July through mid-August. The farm is only open on day or days posted, which have always varied weekly, depending on the ripeness of berries and the weather. Please check back here regularly for updated postings, especially this year, check our farm sign, or call 508-385-2768 for a recorded message.
Directions: The farm is located at the corner of Hokum Rock Rd & Rte. 134, East Dennis, MA. Approx. #1213 on GPS. Map below.
Email: stephen.spear@comcast.net
Farm Phone: 508-385-2768