VIDEO: Maine's Blueberry Barrens

Comment from Marylee Tharp on June 30, 2009

I found this article very touching! I have been in Main when the blueberry's were being gathered - stayed at a BB and had the most wonderful breakfast there of anything in blueberries you could possible eat! Thanks for sharing this wonderful article - really commend this young man for taking on this project.

Comment from Roger Wadleigh on July 11, 2009

50 + years ago I raked for a couple of years. Like, David I had not seen the "barrens" and my experience with blueberry's was limited to the taller berries of Southern New England. With an oatmeal box as container, my mother and father would take our family to deserted farms and pick berries until dark.

I stayed with my extended family at our grandmother's camp on a pond near the "barrens". I had never seen them and when an older cousin married into a family that had a blueberry farm i got introduced to the low blush berries. The lure of the seemingly easy money $2.00 dollars per bushel the adventure of being outdoors all day was soon replaced by the stooping and pulling the rake through the bushes. Her two younger brothers and me were also expected to help her husband take the berries to the cannery after raking time. The season lasted two weeks I can't remember being so tired

My experience with migrant labor did not diminish my liking of blue berries But I can not understand why my wife thinks a blueberry pie is so easy to make.

Comment from meg holford on July 14, 2009

As a photographer, I admire this kind of in depth project because these relationships are vital to capturing the humanity in their faces. Portraits are the hardest to take for me. I do love Maine, I worked 2 summers in the late 90's near Denmark in the lakes region above Portland but this barrens region is really interesting to me. What a diverse state. Love the place. I want to take my kids up there. Thanks for highlighting this story.

Comment from Jan Mahon on August 19, 2009

it is a Beautiful Place that should be seen by ALL> ... PLUS: The Blueberries are Great!

Comment from Karen Crabtree on October 16, 2009

I have lived in Cherryfield,Maine for 12 years now. Every spring our town is bustling with all the preparations for blueberry season. Actually, here in Cherryfield it is not just a season, but our way of life. I love living here and the video brought a lump to my throat and tears in my eyes, because I know how very hard this life can be. Yet the video author puts a beautiful take on this way of life that makes one proud! Thank You Mr. Stess