Blueberries are one of the healthiest foods on the planet and can be easily purchased at a nearby grocery store. However, berry picking is also one of the easiest and fun activities to get your family outdoors, harvesting their own food in the Pacific Northwest. There are plenty of U Pick options out there for a fee, but how about completely free U Pick blueberries?
Every year towards the last part of July and early August we try to make at least one trip to Charlotte’s Blueberry Park near Tacoma.
The park is generally accessed from the east side of East D Street. You can just park on the street next to the park. Metro Parks of Tacoma has been running the 53-acre former privately owned blueberry farm since 1997.
Depending on the size of your party and the relative berry-picking prowess, you may be able to add several pounds of berries in short order. This of course also depends on how many of them you eat personally. We usually get quite a healthy snack while collecting our plentiful harvest of berries.
Pack water, sunscreen, a container of some sort per person and a good attitude and you can usually clean up on these blue beauties in a short period of time.
Oftentimes, even the bushes closest to the street yield quite a harvest, but if things have been picked over a bit, seriously, wander just a few dozen yards into the park and you will be overwhelmed by your options of bushes with many ripe berries to choose from.
When we visited the park on July 28th, there were still quite a few underripe berries on most bushes, so you are not too late to swing down and collect your share.
Up next? Blackberries are already starting to get ripe and Huckleberries up in the mountains will be ready to pick by the middle of August.