Blueberry farm grows family legacy

KOOTENAI – It has taken the Omodt family seven years to get to this point, but judging by both the size of the berry crop and the number of visitors showing up to pluck it away, the harvest at Shingle Mill Blueberry Farm was worth the wait.

“We just had 20 cars in the parking lot,” said Patty Omodt, as she rounded one of the rows of blueberry bushes on the 25-acre, family operated you-pick farm. “Word is starting to get around.”

This agricultural odyssey first took root as a family discussion about what to do with the land on Shingle Mill Road after owners Patty and her husband, Fred, got closer to retirement age. Even with eight children and eight votes cast over the property’s fate, the decision was unanimous.

“They all wanted to keep it,” said Patty. “They said, ‘Let’s keep it intact.’”

Doubtless, carving the farm up into smaller parcels would have done more to fill the Omodts’ coffers than planting endless rows of blueberries, but the parents, too, had a personal agenda.

“We want to keep the integrity of our valley,” Omodt said with a sweep of her hand that took in the rural expanse of the surrounding fields. “Because 50 percent of all American food comes from farms 50 acres or smaller – farms like this one.”

With the family farm concept agreed upon, she began attending national blueberry conferences, taste testing to choose favorite varieties, taking farming classes and spending time with noted berry experts such as the University of Idaho Research & Extension Service’s Dr. Dan Barney and Oregon State School of Agriculture’s Dr. Wei Yang.

Once the research was complete, the family spent two years growing oats and alfalfa as cover crops to replenish the nitrogen in their soil, followed by the installation of an irrigation system that pumps water up from nearby Boyer Slough and the delivery of 100, 10-ton trucks of mulch to build up the rows around the plants.

The result will be about 8,000 pounds of blueberries this year – a figure that will begin to skyrocket as the plants mature, according to Omodt.

“We’ll average about one to one and a half pounds of berries per bush in this first year of production,” she said. “Next year, we’ll have two and a half times the berries. And the following year, depending on how we prune and manage the bushes, we’ll have 40,000-60,000 pounds of berries.”

Timing is everything in the blueberry world, which explains why the fields at Shingle Mill Blueberry Farm have been planted with military precision to keep production going from roughly mid-July through mid-September. The rows are color-coded by variety, and you-pick customers are directed to the most plentiful areas as new berries come on.

Caring for more than 5,300 berry plants that bear fruit on different schedules can be a balancing act, said this mother of eight children and grandmother of 10.

“You have to know how to juggle,” she said. “And I learned how to do that from having a very large family.”

The first 2,000 plants are just nearing the end of their first pick as another 1,000 enter that stage. As additional varieties become ready for harvest, a second batch of berries will pop out on the early plants.

“By that time, we’ll have 4,000 plants open for picking at the same time,” the owner said.

Having eight different varieties of blueberries – one in honor of each of the Omodt children – makes for a longer than usual season, she explained. First to come on are the Earlyblues, Rekas and Dukes, followed by the Drapers and Bluecrops, with the Liberty, Patriot and Jersey berries closing out the season as fall approaches.

Each variety boasts a different taste – some more subtle and sweet, others with a distinct tanginess or flavor characteristic that stands out from the rest.

A walk down the rows of blueberries, munching on a little of this and that along the way, reminds one of talking to a wine connoisseur, as Omodt talks about the unique properties of the plants around her.

“Our farm is about flavor,” she said. “And the more you eat, the more you fall in love with the different favors of these blueberries.”

As the harvest grows, so, too, does the amount of paperwork and marketing involved in keeping the operation running on an even keel. The family does about one-fifth of its business commercially, selling the berries through local retailers such as Miller’s Country Store and Super One Foods. Fully 80 percent is done on-site, as customers pick, sort and weigh their own produce.

“If you want to make it on a berry farm like this, the idea is to do most of it right off the land,” Omodt said.

Due to soil conditions, weed suppression and the eccentric qualities of the blueberry plant, the Shingle Mill Blueberry Farm is not organic, the owner explained.

“But we are as natural as we can be,” she said, “because I don’t want any chemicals on the bush.”

Now that the land is in full production, Patty Omodt already is thinking ahead to blueberry related product extensions, as well as looking around the rest of the property for ways to maximize the family business. One idea is to create dried berry snack packs for kids. She’d also like to put in a few family campsites back in the trees along the Boyer Slough and further landscape the lawns and flower gardens as a place to host wedding receptions.

“I’ve always got lots of ideas,” she said. “Fred’s famous quote is: ‘You bite off more than I can chew.’”

Luckily, the Omodt kids are standing by to assist as things move forward on the farm. This year, they are acting as sharecroppers, picking one berry for the farm and one for themselves.

The personal harvest can be sold, Patty told her children, but 5 percent of the proceeds must go to a charity of their choice. By the end of this growing season, the kids will be making their own decisions.

“The farm will be given to them this year,” the proud Irish Catholic mom said, adding that she views the 25-acre berry farm as a perfect way to hand something down to what has become a large and still growing family.

“This is for them,” she said. “That was always the idea. I want to have an independent, sustainable operation so my kids can have it for generations.”

Shingle Mill Blueberry Farm is open from 7 a.m.-7 p.m., seven days a week, at 488 Shingle Mill Road. For information, call (208) 946-3295 or visit on line at: www.shinglemillblueberryfarm.com