Our farm was part of the Casper Roper property in Jones Township and is well documented in the Elk County history book. One story that has been told to me, more than once, was the time President Grant fished in the creek at the bottom of our farm.

Enough history, I started growing blueberries in 1979 and now call it the mistake field, because I planted the blueberry bushes to close together in very narrow rows. As I became more interested in farming, my desire to grow blueberries grew. I was influenced by my father who told me that the Roper Farm was a potato farm at one time and blueberries should grow well in that soil.

So began the start of Cannella’s Blue Berry Farm.  After many hours looking for a supplier of cultivars, I came across Mike DeGrandchamp who helped me make it happen. Mike has 130 acres of Blueberries and Cranberries in Michigan. I listened to his advice and, working with limited cash, we bought 250 plants in 1986.

Now I had to find a tractor and a tractor I found. It was in Canandaigua, New York in pieces. So off to Canandaigua we go, wife and youngest son in tow, with a small trailer not knowing what we were getting into. After 4 hours on the road, we arrived at the Love Farm. I looked over the tractor and bought it and all the parts. It took 3 trips to get all the parts home and 3 months to bolt it together. As I look back, I could have bought a brand-new tractor for what I put in this one. The lesson I learned was that it was going to take a lot of hard work to make this farm successful.

We laid out the fields with the pick your own customer in mind - wide rows and no row over 125 feet long, so nobody would have to carry the blueberries far. Many pick your own blueberry operations close for ripenining  too often.  We wanted everyone to enjoy the 10 week growing season so we planted multiple varieties.

Our plants include Duke, Patriot, Blue crop, Toro, Bonus, Elliott, and Liberty. Ripening starts around the first week of July and goes until mid-September. All the cultivars are high bush; however the height will not be over 6 feet.  Berry size is large to x-large with 50 berries to a cup.

I hope you enjoy our farm as much as we do.  We invite you to come, visit, and enjoy the fresh air and pick some great blueberries.

Thank you for visiting our site! Brian Cannella