Steep Hill Farm in Fayette is open for picking. With a very good crop this year, the fields will often appear as they do in this picture taken a few years ago unless the weather interferes. Livermore Falls Advertiser file photo

FAYETTE — Steep Hill Farm at 26 Clyde Wells Road has been open about a week for highbush blueberry picking.

Last year owners George and Brenda Joseph did not open because of the coronavirus pandemic. Their small operation wasn’t set up for the restrictions required, George Joseph said then. They planned to continue caring for the fields, he noted.

“It has very much been challenging,” he said in a phone interview Sunday, July 25. “We didn’t open last year, but mowed and kept it up. We watered all last June because it was so dry.

“We watered four days a week in May this year because it was dry again,” he continued. “We watered all of June, then July comes along and we haven’t turned it on.”

Joseph said the crop is really heavy this year but he doesn’t know why and there was some winter damage to the bushes. The fields had to close part or all of some days last week because of rain, he noted.

“We’ve had about four good days picking so far,” Joseph said. “The fruit is ripe, it needs to be picked. Later varieties are ripening so there is more fruit ripe at one time than there should be.”

The fields will stay open at some level in the rain, depending on timing and severity, he noted.

“Every year is a bit of a challenge,” Joseph said.

There are no longer raspberries to pick at Steep Hill Farm. In fall 2019 a fungus got onto the raspberry leaves.

“We tried to deal with it,” Joseph said. “Four or five of the eight rows had it, we decided to plow them under.”

Steep Hill Farm is open daily, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. unless weather interferes or maintenance is needed. The price is $5 per quart. Pickers should plan to bring their own boxes or purchase them there.

For more information, call 207-685-4155 or visit their Facebook page for daily updates.