Blueberries and all that jazz! U-pick season begins.

Katie and Bob Jazwinski

Blueberries and all that jazz! U-pick season begins.

#TheLand.

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief.

BENONA TOWNSHIP — U-pick blueberry season begins this Saturday, July 7, at Jazz U-Pick/We-Pick Blueberries farm, 7223 W. Grant Road.

Katie and Bob Jazwinski used to sit up at night and talk about their dream house. They wanted to raise their kids in the country.

“The conversation would come back to a white farm house with barns and enough property to have the gardens to provide flowers, vegetables and fruits,” Katie says. “We really never thought it was going to happen until Bob took a job in Shelby.”

The Jazwinskis recently purchased the half-century-old Andrews U-Pick Blueberry Farm. The farm is now known as  Jazz U-Pick/We-Pick Blueberries. 

Drawing of Katie’s dream farm that she made when she was 17-years-old.

Both Katie and Bob grew up in Grand Rapids but moved to southeast Michigan. After a tornado destroyed their home they made the decision to move back to the west side of the state, settling in Norton Shores for a short time until moving to Shelby.

“I have always been fascinated with farms,” Katie says. “I even drew a portrait from a tiny black and white photo of my cousin’s farm when I was 17-years-old. It’s always been a dream to live on a property such as this. We’ve also dreamed of having enough land to be able to provide opportunities for our children and other families to offer fitness activities as well. We watched this property for months and months. We fell in love with it. And here we are learning to try to uphold the Andrews traditions of the farm with the Jazwinski twist.”

The Jazwinskis aren’t unfamiliar with blueberries. Bob spent several years in his youth working on the Lindberg Blueberry Patch in Coopersville, along with his cousins and siblings.

“We love every part of it – to the farmhouse, to the gardens, to the barns, to the farm equipment, to the trails, and to the beauty of the blueberry patch. We still think we’ve died and gone to heaven. And the nice thing is that our children say the same.”

The farm will be open every day of the week except Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through September.

For more information, look the farm up on Facebook or at www.jazzblueberries.com.