A Fruitful Tradition

Scorching midsummer days may tempt you to hide indoors, but it is the prime time for blueberry picking on the South Shore. Tree-Berry Farm in Scituate opens its gates as soon as the berries are ripened and keeps them open until there’s nothing left to pick. Owner Beverly Westerveld considers the last week of July to the first week of August to be the best time for collecting buckets of juicy berries. Visitors come from miles around to set out across the farm’s eight patches and pick blueberries until their hearts – and buckets – are full.  

Westerveld has been working at the farm since its inception. She helped her father, Stan Briggs, establish a cut-your-own Christmas tree farm on the property in 1974 and blueberry bushes in 1976. The pick-your-own farm opened in 1980 and Westerveld and her brothers grew up working at the farm. While college and a cross-country road trip took her away for a few years, Westerveld dutifully returned to help with the family business. She now runs the farm on her own, with her husband helping out during the Christmas tree season, “which is six days of the year,” she says with a laugh. 

The farm is situated just off Route 123. Westerveld greets customers at the weighing stand and directs them toward bountiful patches. Tree-Berry’s crop is grown exclusively for picking, so while a handful of customers bring their bounty to local farmers’ markets, Westerveld doesn’t sell in bulk to outside consumers. This means there are more berries left on the bushes for roaming customers to find.  “I meet so many nice people out here. That’s what makes it fun,” says Westerveld. “I have the best customers in the world.”