You can pick your own blueberries in a park-like setting from late July thru September depending on availability.

The varieties we have available for “PICK YOUR OWN” are Darrow, Pemberton, Jersey, Early Blue and Berkeley.

This is strictly an “On Your Honor” system. You pick the berries only where directed, weigh and pay for them all on your own.

The price is $1.25/lb for less than 10 pounds and $1.10/lb over 10 pounds. There is a chart that translates pounds into dollars. If you call ahead, we may be able to have a flat of blueberries, 12 pints, ready for you at a cost of $24 to $30 depending on the season.

We also have a blueberry wine vinegar for sale at the cost of $4.00 for a 375ml bottle….delicious.

There are fifteen varieties of cultivated blueberries grown on the Homestead, comprised of early, mid-season and late harvest blueberries. Many of the berries have a distinct flavor and many experts can distinguish between the flavors by taste.  The berries produced are:

ATLANTIC
BLUE CROP
BERKELEY
BONUS
COLLINS
COVILLE
DARROW
EARLY BLUE
ELLIOT
HERBERT
JERSEY
LATE BLUE
NELSON
PATRIOT
PEMBERTON

The bushes are pruned in the early spring and sprayed to control fungus, the weeds are killed and the bushes fertilized twice to insure sufficient growth potential.

Only water-soluble insecticides and fungicides are applied and only if field conditions warrant.  This is termed an IPM, Integrated Pest Management, approach to blueberry production.

The bushes flower in early June and are pollinated by our local Bumble Bees reinforced by leased Honey Bee hives.  The Honey Bees have a better union since they don’t work when it is raining, very cloudy or below 55 degrees Fahrenheit.

The berries are handpicked starting in late July and are either shipped to the markets of Boston or taken for wine production.  

Depending on the weather picking can continue into mid or late September. 

The fields are then mulched with chippings and go to sleep to get ready for next year’s growth cycle.

 

The Kelso Homestead has been in the Kelso family for over 200 hundred years. Originally the land was cleared and a subsistence farm was started.Over the intervening years wheat, hay, apples, vegetables, maple syrup and forest products were harvested. 

The farmhouse seen on the property is from the mid 19^th century. Harriet Gilman is the seventh generation Kelso to live on the land with her husband, Jim Gilman.  They moved back to the “Homestead” in the late sixties, and Jim, having retired from the United States Army needed a hobby.   He planted six and a half acres of blueberries that currently comprise over 7,000 bushes. 

In 2002, he leased the operation to Joe Sullivan, one of the founders of the Chester Hill Winery.  At the present time, most of the blueberry wine is made from the harvest from the Kelso Homestead.

 

The Kelso Homestead is located at 207 Bromley Road in Chester.  

Take Bromley Road from Route 112 in Huntington and follow the signs to the “Kelso Homestead Blueberries.”  It’s about four miles from the foot of Bromley Road and Basket Street. 

If coming from Chester or Pittsfield, take Skyline Trail and make a left on to East River Road.  Go about one mile and make a right on to Bromley Road.  We are on the left about 1/2 mile on Bromley.  Click on the Map below for printable directions.

Kelso Homestead Blueberries
207 Bromley Road
Chester, MA 01011
(413) 354-6315
Copyright © 2003, all rights reserved.