In the summertime, there’s nothing quite like eating fresh blueberries and blackberries straight from the shrub. Here are three Tennessee U-pick berry farms where you can pick your own.
Bradley Kountry Acres, Cottontown
For Cathy Bradley and her husband Mike, downsizing the dairy farm they ran for years with her dad brought a sweet new side to the business. In 1996, after the Bradleys’ son Matt graduated from college and announced he didn’t want to return to the farm, the family sold the dairy, constructed greenhouses to raise flowers and planted an acre of strawberries.
“A few years later, we put out our first crop of blackberries,” Bradley says, noting that they added blueberries three years ago. “That’s how we got into the pick-your-own.”
The u-pick berry farm has been a big hit.
“I have had people that have been coming here for more than 20 years,” Bradley says. “At the very beginning, our customers were older people who remembered coming to Sumner County as teenagers to pick strawberries. Now I have one girl whose parents picked here for years and years and years, and she would come with them. She’s brought her daughters. She’s brought her grandchildren. We’ve got a lot of repeat customers and next generations.”
The Natchez blackberries ripen early, usually in mid-June, followed by the Ouachita variety. Three types of blueberries – Chandler, Duke and Nelson – are available in July and August. Most years, the Bradleys also sell tomatoes and a few vegetables, along with beef. More than 20 acres of pumpkins are open for picking in the fall…