Sweet summer delights: Blackberry season at Blue Sky Orchard heading into full swing

Jul. 23—BLUEFIELD — Blue Sky Orchards in Bluefield, West Virginia is open for business for blackberry season, and they are inviting the public to come and pick their own.

The family-owned business has been open for three years, and they are now letting people come pick their fruit for themselves for the first time.

"Last year, we let some people do the blackberries last year, but we picked the apples for people instead of letting them do it," said Laurie McDuffee, an owner of Blue Sky Orchards.

Nick McDuffee, also an owner, added, "This year, people are going to be able to pick their own apples because we've cleaned the orchard up a lot over the year, so we're getting more to that."

The McDuffee family loves owning the orchard, and they love that they get to do it with each other.

"It's the best part of doing all of this," said Laurie. "That was the whole idea for us to be able to have the family work together."

She also added, "Everybody is doing everything with this, and it's great."

While the family has only owned and operated the orchard for three years, they said that the blackberries, apples, peaches, and pears that are on the property had been there prior to them purchasing it.

"I think they (the previous owners) planted the fruit around four or five years ago, and they were trying to make it into a winery before," said Nick. "They blackberries with the intention of blackberry wine, we also have grapes."

The McDuffee family has different plans for the orchard than the previous owners.

"We are trying to make it more of an agritourism," said Nick.

He also added, "We want to make it a destination for Mercer County."

The family's big plans for the orchard have so far included some expansions and additions to the property.

The orchard now not only does blackberries and apples, but they also have peaches, and plan to add another treat this fall season.

"We are going to have a pumpkin patch that's going to be ready this fall along with a children's play place," said Kristen McDuffee, owner and wife of Nick.

Nick added, "We planted blueberries this year, and we have some fishing ponds we want to try to do something with in the future."

With several different fruits at the orchard, they have a variety of things for people to enjoy, but for the most part, they only have one type of each fruit.

"We have one variety of blackberry, peach, and pear, but when the blueberries are ready, they will have two varieties," said Nick.

The variety of blackberry they have is the Kiowa blackberry, and this happens to be the biggest type of blackberry there is which they have a few hundred plants of on the orchard.

"I'm not sure the exact number of pants, but we have about half an acre full of blackberry plants," said Nick.

Kristen described the blackberries as "big and sweet."

The blackberries are the only fruit in full swing of the season right now at Blue Sky, but peaches will be ready very soon.

"The peaches will start here in about a week, so we'll have peaches and blackberries together," explained Kristen. "The peaches will finish, and it will be just blackberries again until we start having apples."

When it comes around, people need to be quick because peach season only lasts about one week.

The season for blackberries is longer than peaches, and it will lead into apple season in the fall.

"Blackberry season is usually mid to the end of July up until mid to the end of August, so that time right in the middle of that is when the berries will be ripe," said Kristen.

Once blackberry season does end, and the apple are ready for picking, the orchard will start hosting 'U-Pick' days for apple and pumpkins and start pressing cider.

The blackberries that do not get picked by visitors eventually get picked by the McDuffees, that are then turned into jam, wine, or are just packaged or frozen. The family will sell those items as well.

Since the McDuffee's have done so much to better the orchard, they are hoping for a lot of visitors especially in the fall because all though they love the blackberries, they say the fall season is their favorite.

"I'm hoping to be able to have a couple of field trips come up here in the fall to pick apples and get pumpkins," said Laurie.

The McDuffee's love that they are able to share their orchard with Mercer County and anyone who comes to visit because they feel that it is just a great place for families to come spend time.

Nick describes the orchard as "something to do outside that is safe and fun" and as "family oriented."

Laurie added, "It's pretty and peaceful up here, and we're hoping it's going to be a destination that people like to come to."

The family also said that because people in this area are so independent, they feel that their orchard allows the locals to keep living the life they are used to here.

"Folks around here are pretty self-sufficient, and this helps them to be able to sustain that lifestyle," said Laurie.

She also added, "People here really like natural stuff and are used to being self-sustaining, so we grow our fruit for those people who like picking their own fruit, who maybe can't afford or have the means for it."

As of right now, the orchard is only doing 'U-Pick' days on select days, so if you are looking for a chance to go, you can find information on their Facebook and Instagram accounts under the name Blue Sky Orchards.