QUALITY BLUEBERRIES BEING PICKED LOCALLY

Mid-America Teen Challenge residents are reaping a good harvest of blueberries this year. They are selling them at a stand in the parking lot of Town Plaza off Independence Street.

Missouri's blueberry crop is in good shape and producing quality fruit.

"Overall the berries look good," said Wayne Yokley, director of the Missouri Department of Agriculture's market development division. "We needed a lot of sunshine to ripen the fruit, and we're getting that."

The blueberry season in Missouri and Southern Illinois usually begins about the time strawberries fade out.

Some growers have been picking blueberries the past couple of weeks, said Yokley. "They may continue picking into early August."

Strawberries are not a major crop in Missouri.20They aren't listed in Missouri Farm Facts, a publication of the Missouri Agricultural Statistics Service that summarizes the state's farm products.

But there are a number of small patches of blueberries in the southern half of the state.

Most of the blueberry farms use direct marketing, said Yokley. "We don't keep statistics on them."

Forty blueberry farms are listed in the state agriculture department's blueberry brochure. The 40 farms combined probably consist of less than 200 acres, said Yokley.

That is a far cry from earlier years. During the 1920s and into the 1930s, as many as 3,000 acres were devoted to blueberries in Cape Girardeau County.

Mid-America Teen Challenge provides a number of blueberries to the farmers' market crowd in Cape Girardeau. Teen Challenge, a religious training facility for men 17 and over who have drug, alcohol or other life-controlling problems, opened its berry shed in Town Plaza Shopping Center along Independence Street.

The berry shed has been open from time to time since the final weekend in May, selling strawberries and, or blueberries.

Blueberries have also been plentiful the past two weeks at the farmers' market held each Thursday afternoon on Plaza Galleria parking lot in the 2000 block of Independence.

Many people like to pick their blueberries.

Most of the 40 blueberry farms in Missouri are set up to let people pick their own berries, said Sally Oxenhandler of the Missouri Department of Agriculture.

"Blueberries are easy to pick," said Oxenhandler. "They grow within reach on bushes with no thorns."

Oxenhandler has some suggestions for the pick-your-own crowd:

-- Pick only fresh berries that are firm, ripe and blue.

-- Don't pry blueberries form the bush; they should come loose with only slight pressure.

-- Take along a cooler when picking. Chilling the berries soon after picking will increase their shelf life. Fresh-picked berries usually keep 10 to 14 days.

-- If you plan to freeze the berries you pick, wait to wash them before use to keep them fresher. To freeze, simply pack the fresh berries into freezer bags or containers and place them in the freezer.

"Blueberries are a good treat," said Oxenhandler. "They're sweet, nutritious and low in calories ... and they don't require peeling, seeding or coring."

Blueberries are some of the most versatile and convenient summer fruits. They are a favorite of many to add to pancakes and muffins. They also are great in pies, cobblers and cakes.

The Illers farm at Millersville is a pick-your-own berry operation that raises strawberries in late to early June, blueberries to June, and blackberries to July.

Consumers can pick their own or buy ready-picked berries at the Illers farm.

Don and Joan Illers and their son Chris raise more than five acres of strawberries and about a half-acre each of blueberries and blackberries.

Other blueberry farms in the southeast part of the state include the Trace Creek Blues farm owned by Henry and Linda Whitener at Glen Allen in Bollinger County, the Highland Blueberry farm owned by Bob and Ronnie Hershey eight miles south of Perryville, Happy Hollow farm near Williamsville; and the Cardoza Blueberry farm 15 miles east of West Plains.

A cluster of six blueberry farms are around the Kansas City area.

Blueberry Hill, a 500-acre fruit and vegetable farm near Cobden, Ill., contains more than 20 acres of blueberries and pick-your-own fans are welcome.