LONG PROMO:   I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill.  We’re harvesting the Blues.  That’s right.  If it’s summertime in America, that means it’s Blueberry time in America.  From Maine to Washington, and just about everywhere inbetween, we’re harvesting Blueberries.  We’re going to take a look at Blueberries, how they’re grown, how they’re harvested, how they’re packed, and we’re going to check out food safety in the Blueberry fields.  Next week with me…oh I can’t wait…Michael Marks, Your Produce Man. (Takes bite) Mmmm.

SHORT PROMO:  Heh, we’re harvesting the Blues…Blueberries that is…next week with me, Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.
                                                                                                         
BLUEBERRIES, PART I (Monday, June 11):  You know the first thing a farmer has to figure out is when are the Blueberries ready for harvest.  Now, when you walk down this row of Blueberries, the farmer sees something different from what you and I see.  They see all these branches coming down.  See that?  You  know, when the branches are coming down, do you know what that means  That means the berries are heavy and full of sugar, and ready for harvest.  Now, the United States, we harvest about 50% of the world’s supply of Blueberries…and guess what, all of the harvest is done…with their thumbs.  Take a look at this.  This is how Blueberries are harvested…one berry at a time.  The harvesters are only harvesting the ripe Blueberries.  The green berries and the cream colored berries are left on the branch.  They are only harvesting berries that are fully ripe, fully blue, fully ready to eat…and full of sugar.  Once the berries are harvested, they are put into these small field buckets.  Only a small amount, less than four pounds.  That way, there isn’t a lot of weight on the ripe berries.  Once the berries are in the bucket, let me show you where they go.  Follow me.  The ripe berries are then gently placed into a very shallow container here, once again so there isn’t a lot of weight on the ripe berries.  These berries are full of sugar and that means they are ripe.  I’m Michael Marks…Your Produce Man.

TEASE:  Heh, in my next Produce Man report, all of these Blueberries are harvested…by hand.

BLUEBERRIES, PART II (Tuesday, June 12):  Heh, if it’s summertime in America, that means…it’s Blueberry time.  I’m in a Blueberry field in California, and of course, North America grows like 70% of the world’s supply of Blueberries.  About half of the world’s supply is grown in the United States.  Most of that in places like New Jersey, Maine, Michigan, California, Oregon and Washington.  A lot of great states grow Blueberries.  Let me tell you a little bit about Blueberries.  They are actually part of the Azalea family.  You know Azaleas, the flower.  There are high bush and low bush Blueberries.  Now in Maine, they grow wild Blueberries, and in the summertime, the wild Blueberry harvest is a wild time.  You know, some could possibly pity the poor Blueberry.  You know, in the middle of summer, you have all of those beautiful and luscious Peaches and Nectarines.  You have succulent and gorgeous melons, Watermelons, Cantaloupe, Honeydew.  You have great Grapes.  And then you have this little, tiny Blueberry.  Some may pity the poor Blueberry, but those who love Blueberries, we don’t pity the tiny Blueberry.  It’s big in health and flavor.  We can’t wait for summer, for the Blueberries of summer.  I’m Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.  (Takes bite)  Mmmm.

TEASE: Heh, in my next Produce Man report, the Blueberry…what flower is it related to?

BLUEBERRIES, PART III (Wednesday, June 13):  You would not believe the hard work that goes into getting the picture perfect Blueberry.  Heh…right down here.  I’m hard at work here…laying down in this Blueberry field.  Heh, folks like farmer David Munger are the hard workers.  There he is.  Take a look at him.  He started harvesting cling peaches on his dad’s farm when he was just nine years old.  Now, he’s growing Blueberries for you and me.  And there indeed is a lot of work that goes into it.  First of all, check this out.  See that black tarp…it’s actually weed cloth.  Because it’s black, it does help warm up the soil, which means better root growth for these plants, so that means better food production for the plant.  Also, take a look at this.  Ah ha.  Drip irrigation.  Now this is expensive, and it takes a lot of hard work to prepare a field with drip irrigation.  Now, because it’s drip irrigation, the water is only going to the roots.  And that means less water to help weeds grow.  You know what that means?  Far fewer chemicals have to be sprayed on these fields.  That’s not a bad idea.  Plus take a look at this.  This wire here…Heh Dave, what guage wire is this?  DAVE:  10-guage.  YPM:  Ten-guage wire.  My goodness gracious.  You know why they have that?  These growers are doing such a good job, these canes are litterally loaded with heavy, ripening Blueberries. These canes would just break, so they have to use this 10-guage wire, strong enough to hold up these very heavy branches because they are so loaded with ripening Blueberries.  Wow, a lot of work goes into getting us a good Blueberry.  I’m Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.  

TEASE: Heh, in my next Produce Man report, I’m glad the farmers are working hard to get us a good Blueberry.

BLUEBERRIES, PART IV (Thursday, June 14):    Let’s see, 592, 593, 594…you would not believe this…595, 596.  Man, 597.  Looks like a tent city, doesn’t it?  It’s really not.  There are no refugees here.  There are only Blueberries here.  Look at that.  That is a tunnel.  That’s right, a long tunnel.  A beautiful tunnel.  You can call it a “hoop house,” kind of like a hot house because they just use heavy plastic.  I love this tunnel.  There are lots of reasons I love this tunnel.  First, of all, it keeps all of the wind out of here.  No wind.  Less wind means less bruising of the Blueberries.  Keeps the rain out of here.  When it’s drizzling outside, the workers can still harvest in here because it’s dry.  It does keep the rain off of these berries.  You can’t pick wet berries.  Also, it keeps birds out of here.  Birds are heck…are heck on ripe Blueberries.  They would eat these berries before we could harvest them, so we don’t want birds here.  Heh, take a look at this right above me.  You have to have bees in order to pollinate the Blueberries, but what the growers learned was that the bees got confused in these tunnels, so they have these very colorful ribbons at the entrance of each tunnel…to direct the bees in and out.  This is cool  A tunnel…for Blueberries.  I’m Michael Marks, Your Produce Man.

TEASE:  Heh, in my next Produce Man report, they’re growing Blueberries…in a tunnel. 
  
BLUEBERRIES, PART V (Friday, June 15):  You know, the hard work to get a picture perfect Blueberry doesn’t just start and stop in the fields.  It continues here at the packing shed.  All of these Blueberries…within 60 minutes…are brought into the packing shed.  The first stop is quality control.  Let me show you what this lady is doing.  She’s actually counting the number of…seeds, that’s right, the number of seeds in each Blueberry.  Now you are probably thinking, “Why in the world do you want to know how many seeds are in the Blueberry?”  The number of seeds tells the farmer…farmer like Dave Munger…how well their fields were pollinated.  You see, if there are a lot of seeds in the berry, that was a well pollinated field.  If there are few seeds, that means the grower will go back to that field or that row of Blueberries and see what they can do better to get better pollination.  Better pollination means better Blueberries, bigger Blueberries, sweeter Blueberries, tastier Blueberries.  I’m Michael Marks, Your Produce Man. 

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