review of: Degrandchamps Blueberry Farm
(1 of 1 review)

76241 14th Ave, South Haven, MI
888-483-7431

get directions

web site:
http://www.degrandchamps.com/

category:		activities
recommended for:		toddlers,pre-school,elementary,tweens
cost:		inexpensive
keywords:		south haven, u-pick, blueberries, michigan
photos:

A visit to Degrandchamps Blueberry Farm in South Haven, Michigan is a visit to blueberry heaven.

You will love it, your kids will love it and you'll be so happy when you get home with pounds of freshly-picked, sweet, plump blueberries you can eat raw or freeze and use for baking later.

A blueberry is just about the perfect fruit. It's sweet, can be baked into muffins and breads; blended into smoothies, dropped into salads, cooked into pancakes, churned into ice cream or best, eaten plain and simple!

Blueberries are a great snack for kids, too. The sweet little berry is chock full of antioxidants (did you know that a cup of blueberries has twice as many health-giving antioxidants as spinach? And four times as many as grapefruit, white grapes, bananas and apples!)

On our Sunday morning visit to this delightful farm, we spent about two hours picking blueberries. The bushes were chock full… and there were plenty of blueberries on even the lowest branches where my one year old could reach. Of course, he picked and ate, picked and ate. I had no problem with that and he was pretty happy about it!

South Haven can get pretty hot and humid, so picking in the morning or late afternoon is recommended – and not in the heat of the day. The farm provides large plastic buckets for picking then they weigh your harvest and charge by the pound. They transfer your blueberries into a plastic bag for taking home. I'd advise you to bring a cooler with you so that you can keep the blueberries cool after picking.

Degrandchamps also has a store and warehouse as they harvest blueberries and sell in farmer's markets around Michigan as well as freeze them and mail-order to almost every state except CA., NV. OR. or WA. See their website for ordering.

If you miss the blueberries (July through Labor Day), you can also go in the fall for cranberries. While you can't pick the cranberries yourself, you can visit on one of their Demonstration Days when you can take a hay wagon ride to their Cranberry bogs and watch as they harvest and then pack the cranberries.
In addition to the fruit on the fields, of course, there is a farm store where you can buy Degrandchamp's jelly's, jams, salsas, fresh and frozen fruit (including delectable peaches in the summer and delicious apples in the fall) and homemade fudge.
This is a great stop for parents and kids. Get out there for a bit of fresh air, fresh fruit and fun family time.

There is a lot of do in and around South Haven, as well. We followed our hot blueberry picking morning with a visit to the nearby Van Buren State Park, where we enjoyed an afternoon of swimming in Lake Michigan's (believe it or not) warm waves! The kids all loved the day… and so did we!

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