ep129: Blueberries are the bumper crop for this farm
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- čas přidán 5. 08. 2024
- In this video, we take a look at White Oak Farm in Renick West Virginia. Max Robinson and his family have over 4 acres of blueberries with approximately 2600 blueberry plants. We have gone to White Oak Farm every season for over 10 years and are anxious to be to headed back soon.
Max has worked hard for years building and tending his blueberry operation. His hard work has allowed him to provide for his family and send several children off to college.
Check out their website at whiteoakberryfarm.com
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I’ve viewed this video several times- really enjoy the subject and Mr. Robinson. Thank you for making this video available to us all.
You are a SUPERMAN guy, 4 successful kids, and working for yourself, yipper guy you're successful. Walk tall and proud guy, walk tall and proud! You are U.S.A
Cheer's from Iron Rock, Nova Scotia Canada.
What a really NICE video.
Thanks for sharing this with us. Mr. Robinson sounds like a great guy and is living my dream! A few years ago I was forced to sell my grandparent's small 12-acre hobby farm where I was raised and hope to be able to live that lifestyle once again.
It was very interesting hearing Mr. Robinson speak! Everyone's start is unique and I always like hearing about it.
Many have the dream of making a living from a farm. Growing berries or nuts for profit seems to be a more peaceful way to live.
Blueberries are great super foods and your a great American people who farm foods to feed the starving poor. God bless your family and farm.
This guy should do hands on blueberry courses.
What a very cool, down to Earth guy! Loved the tour
great video. very informative.
Always something interesting on your channel. Thank you. God Bless ~Lisa
I'm also a farmer. What genuine people farmers tend to be. It truly is a beautiful wholesome full life. Hard... But beautiful. Not every can be a farmer... But everyone can respect a farmer x oh ..I also homeschool. I guess it's a perspective thing
I started growing my own when I saw an 8 oz container in my store going for nearly $6. A pound went for nearly $9. Fresh is better.
Especially in Ypsilanti MI.
Thanks for this interview! Your chins didnt not impede the sound by the way. 😂 Thanks for the laugh.
You always hear people complain about the price of blueberries little realizing it takes about 6 years to get to your first semi-decent "full harvest". That is a lot of inputs for no return until that time.
Great informative video thank s for sharing your knowledge
Blueberries are awesome for the brain. 70% less likely to have paralysis or memory recall problems from heart attack or stroke, for people who eat blueberries.
We home schooled our kids. They went to high school though, to get into college easier. They each earned two degrees in three years and then two wanted to stay at home. One got married and moved to South Florida. We just purchased 5 acres in December 2016, because we want to give a shot at a small farm and the two at home want in on doing it. One has a business degree and the other has a degree in technology. So the office worker is taken care of and the other one can build and repair computers, write programs and repair operating systems. We installed a 32 foot galvanized culvert with ten yards of gravel and four yards of sand. We had two shovels, a hand tamp and five home depot buckets. The son proved he could handle 10 hour days of hard labor. I guess it is his ma ma's Cherokee blood and my Viking blood make for a hard worker.
Enjoyed the video much.
Man that was really great thank you!
Love this! My husband and I are setting up a small hard cider orchard in New York State.
Thanks for the video, enjoyed it a lot.
I have a tiny blueberry patch (15 high bush, 1/4 acre wild low bush), and also really enjoy having them. I can totally understand his motivation to cultivate for a living, and great to see his success. They're fairly low maintenance, not a lot of pests in my area (fewer birds), large yields, multiple rounds of picking on the right varieties, and a fairly expensive selling price.
Hmmm... maybe I should clear another acre and build a farm stand....
Just curious what part of the country you live in? I am in Upstate SC and considered blue berries but not sure how well they would do here.
Thanks Terry
@@ForestToFarm Hi, We're in southern New Hampshire
Seems like a great man.
Man that what I'm going to try to do very inspiring
"One of my chins" 😂😂 I think you're a little hard on yourself ☺
Great video... to listen to. Watching him sway back and forth made me seasick.
Best blueberry growing video I've ever seen! I live in East Tennessee, so I'm working with a similar climate. I have about 25 bushes for my family and to share with friends, but lately wild turkeys and other wild birds have been devastating my crops. I'll have to get some nets. Thanks for sharing!
Just get a shotgun and enjoy some meat. Wild turkey is delicious, but you need to fry it instead of baking.
Sure does seem like a good man!
There should be farmer social clubs because I wanna buy guys like you and Blueberry Man a drink and pick your brains
I was thinking of some sort of pick your own fruit place for my retirement plan. It's very interesting to see his place. Janice
Good video interesting
What lovely oaks x cheers from sa x
That is my dream in life. Blue berry farmer. Iver look at 3 in N.C this year. Hoping to get back to N.C soon. I love ohio but hate the winter aside from deer hunting haha
Definitely a lot of pruning involved. Every year. My father hated that part.
Harvest is over a short time, so you need help on harvest, even if they pick.
If you have other crops, that might work. Example some use sheep to help manage grass between.
bushes.
If you have friendly neighbors they may like summer helping.
One farmer friend, had apples, added blueberries to make more income.
If it is a very small operation, not for a living, but a little more than you need it can be a fit.
Blue berries and oatmeal. I'm excited for breakfast.
Hello friends,
Your plants look so healthy! How many pounds do you get per plant, and what varieties are you using? What is the spacing between plants and rows? You mentioned that you'd space them further apart.
Question What do you spray around each bush to keep the grass and weeds from growing???
"One of my chins". LMAO!!! You should do stand up comedy. Looks to me that you only have one chin.
Gotta kick out of this one. Blueberry farmer is right: They are NOT easy. They're high maintenance (here in Kansas anyway). I know, I have 40 bushes. But it is worth it!
We have a hard time growing them here.
Troy blue berries make good wine I make it it’s quick an easy let no if u want it
Do you have wild berries, like raspberries in WV?
Traaash, hail the red blueberries
Someone passing by you at 1:17, spooky. 👻
I am hoping that was just some steam after the rain!
@@RedToolHouse I hope so too. All the best from Croatia, EU. BTW, we love your CZcams channel.
@@ZeljkoSerdar da, ima nas još ;)
@@ZeljkoSerdar Hvala vam za preporuku. Zanima me sve oko Borovnice! Pogledajte u mojim "moj vrt" ima mnogo sličnih stvari koje bi se i Vama možda isto sviđalo. Ako budem imao vremena snimit ću Video al što više filmova to manje vremena u vrtu. Zasad moram još puno toga naučiti ;) . Lijep Pozdrav iz Njemačke
I live in WV as well. How do you keep deer from destrying them?
We have ours fenced and netted. Max does the same with his operation.
I just bought 83 acres and would love to do a blueberry & blackberry farm. I would love to know the profitability of blueberry farming, as well as who he markets to or is it just u-pick?
Blackberries are actually more profitable because you can get full harvests much sooner. It takes about six years for your plants to reach full production. Certainly get your soil fully analyzed for those crops, preparation is everything because chlorosis is merciless if your pH is not low enough, like this gentleman says, mulching blueberries is a big job. Research deeply. Research the market in the area, the quality and quanity of water as they have high requirements for water as their root hairs don't pick up water that well. They evolved in marshy areas is the reason for that so they would not drown as easily yet had good amounts of water to draw from when they did need it.
As for blackberries, Go to the youtube channel with the University of Arkansas fruit production as they develop many of the cultivars that become popular for even commercial production. I grow Elderberries, Blackberries, and Blueberries for my own use but have learned a lot over time. Even doing master gardener programs to learn more. I did an advisory check for a guy wanting to know more about starting a blueberry planting on his home site, and we got out there and he was high up on a hill barren of trees, cherty chalky soil, no ponds, no live water, would have been 2,000' to a decent level of water for irrigating, and we advised against it real quick.
I planted several varieties of blueberries this year for the first time. I'm looking forward gathering my own when they're mature and ripen. Any tips for a beginner grower, let me know. Thanks.
Hope you got it figured out. I've got 15 plants myself that are about 6 years old now. Most about 6 or 7 feet tall and produce loads of yummy berries for me. I really am not much of a good host for them. I feed them a little in the fall and spring and never touch them other than that. Trim out dead branches is about it. I don't do any pruning and they just do their thing and do it very well. I'm happy, they're happy, a few birds are happy. Everybody's happy. hahaha
@@beebop9808your comments just made me happy 😂.could you tell more about them? Like what variety and do you spray for bugs? I am in Upstate SC.
Terry
@@ForestToFarm Not much to tell Terry. They are all Rabbiteye, about 5 varieties of them. It's recommended to mix them up and I just got as many as I could find. I got the recommendation from UGA (GO DAWGS! haha) as one of the best varieties for Ga. (Southern Highbush being another but I didn't plant any.)
No sprays of any kind. Never have noticed any kind of fungus' or pests on the bushes. I've got them planted on the border with large trees behind them but receive ample sun from the front. So they get plenty of leaf litter and acid from the trees. I did put down some garden sulphur at planting but none since, only a little 10/10/10. They're one of the better plant it and forget it things that can be grown.
Wish you luck with them! Wonderful berries to have around!
@@beebop9808 Thanks!!
Is this considered a commercial farm
it didn't look to me he was sitting down,,,
Do you know the spacing on his blueberry plants and do you know what kind he runs there is that Northern highbush
He mentioned the spacing and that he regrets not giving them more space.
He plants 17 varieties.
@@eas2252 well got mine at 3ft lol
Still didn't catch the spacing, just said to close
My guess is the rows are 4' apart. Rough estimate as a kid walked by. No idea about the bushes.
How much dose he bring in with the 2600 bushes
Mature bush can produce 5 to 20 pounds. So say 10 pounds average times 2600 = 26,000 lbs of blueberries. $3.50lb x 26000 = $91,000 revenue
Louisberg is an effluent town?
it’s Lewisburg. And yes, for a rural town in WV it could be considered Affluent. ✌🏽
@@HarrisonCountyStudio I wish I had a lot more affluence and a little less effluence
I one day want to do this. How can I? Do I need my own variety of berry?
I'll stick with Maine wild blueberry's. Twice the antioxidents of the bush tyoe.
I don't understand why you think it's odd he doesn't consider himself a homesteader. The way you describe him he is a farmer. Just because he home schools his kids doesn't mean he should consider himself a homesteader. Farmers have homeschooled their kids forever. To me he is a farmer because you didn't mention any closed loop mentality or permaculture approach to their land. it seems he has a mono cash crop. That is farming sir, not homesteading. That said the man himself at 3:34 seems to consider homesteaders ppl not native to the area, which is also correct
When Marcus Porcius Cato was asked how best to make an estate most profiatble he said, "Successfully raising cattle, the second best way is raising cattle with some success, the third best way is raising cattle with little success, the fourth best way is raising crops." He was then asked, "How about banking?" Cato replied, "How about murder?" So why was the best way to bring fortune through cattle to ancients but you say the opposite??!?!!?!!!!??????????
😂
Feed that poor cow
That cow is a perfectly healthy looking brown jersey. That’s how they’re built. You obviously know nothing about cows.
The cow looks fine. This breed is a bit bony and it’s not a breed bred for beef.
There should be farmer social clubs because I wanna buy guys like you and Blueberry Man a drink and pick your brains