This summer, take time for something borrowed, something new and most importantly, something blue.

It’s the start of blueberry season, and there are plenty of local patches ripe and ready for picking.

Just outside of Jacksonville, small, white signs mounted on the side of an unpaved road, inscribed with the words “U-Pick Blueberries,” lead the way to the Jerry’s Berries blueberry patch.

Owner and operator Jerry Gilbert is a retired professor from Jacksonville State University. He was raised on a farm in Texas.

“I always had farming in my blood, I guess you could say,” Gilbert said with a grin.

Gilbert and his wife, Sheila, bought the 65-acre property in 1978. Around that time, blueberries gained popularity in Clay County, Gilbert said, and the Gilberts decided to plant a blueberry patch on one acre of their land.

The Gilberts planted 300 blueberry bushes in 1985. Very few bushes produced blueberries the first and second year, but by the fifth year the blueberry patch was producing more than enough berries to sell.

“We used to pick a lot ourselves and sell to restaurants” like Classic on Noble, Gilbert said. The Gilberts also sold their blueberries at local farmers’ markets.

But every year, there seem to be more and more berries, Gilbert said, so much so that the last few years have been strictly u-pick.

According to Gilbert, blueberries in this part of the country are self-sufficient. They are “really pretty easy to take care of,” Gilbert said. (But don’t forget that he’s been growing and tending to blueberry bushes for almost 30 years.)

During picking season, which usually starts in early June and last, until the first week of August, Gilbert said the work is sun-up to sun-down.

But the rewards are worth the work. Gilbert said being out in the patch is “very calm and peaceful.”

He also enjoys meeting the people who come out to pick. With a chuckle, he added that it “seems like only really good people like blueberries.”

Blueberry lovers seem to be so good that when Jerry or Sheila can’t be down in the patch, they operate using the honor system. People will come pick a pint or a gallon of blueberries and leave the money they owe in a tin. Gilbert noted that they’d never had a problem with the system.

Guests are more than welcome to sample as they pick. “We won’t weigh you on the way in or out,” Gilbert said.

Jerry’s Berries blueberry patch is also a great place for families. Parents are encouraged to bring children and “let them pick and play around.”

Gilbert said that an experienced picker can get a gallon of blueberries in about 45 minutes. But not all of their guests are experienced.

First-time pickers should know that, while some fruits such as bananas or tomatoes continue to ripen after they are picked, blueberries do not.

Blueberries start out green and turn a reddish pink before they turn blue and plump up.  When they are fully ready, they will be blue and look almost frosty.

If guests pick berries that are green or red, “they will stay that color and be bitter,” Gilbert said.

Blueberries don’t all ripen at the same time. On a single bush, there may be plump, dark-blue blueberries ready for picking, as well as newly sprouted green blueberries.

Guests aren’t the only people who get to enjoy Jerry’s Berries. The Gilberts eat blueberries most mornings for breakfast in some form.

“My favorite use is my wife’s blueberry cobbler” Gilbert said. “Add some vanilla ice cream and mmm … mmm … mmm.”

 Jerry’s Berries

• 1281 Dogwood Lane, Jacksonville

• www.pickjerrysberries.com

• Open seven days a week, sunup to sundown.

•  Blueberries are $3 a pint or $9 a gallon.

•  Buckets are provided for guests to use while picking, but bring your own containers to take the berries home in.

Where to pick

Craft Blueberry Farm

4060 Eastaboga Road, Talladega

256-362-7350

Open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday.

$7 a gallon for u-pick, $15 a gallon for blueberries picked by the farm. Cash or check only.

Gallon buckets are available for use during picking, and freezer bags are provided to transport the berries. Restrooms, shaded areas and cool water available.

Holmestead Farm

6582 Clay County Road 7, Talladega

256-404-4316

www.holmesteadfarm.com

Open 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday, Friday and Saturday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday.

$10 a gallon for u-pick.

Holmestead provides buckets, bags, ice water, restrooms and rest areas with picnic tables.

Faye’s Blueberry Farm

3015 Alabama Highway 204, Jacksonville

256-435-1125

Open seven days a week, sunup to sundown.

$8 a gallon for pick-your-own.

Gallon buckets available to use while picking, but bring your own containers to take blueberries home.

7 Springs Farm

588 Seven Springs Road, Wellington

256-435-0363

Open 7 a.m.-8 p.m. daily.

$3.50 a quart for u-pick.

The farm provides quart-sized buckets for picking and bags to take blueberries home in. Owner Rodney Petty said, “You don’t need to bring anything but a sun hat.” They’ll take care of the rest.

Bennett’s Blueberry Farm

535 Ellie’s Lane, Anniston

256-236-6410

www.bennettsblueberryfarm.com

Open 6:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

$9 a gallon for u-pick, $18 for a gallon picked by the farm; call ahead for a pre-picked bucket.

Buckets and bags are provided. The folks at Bennett’s suggest picking early in the mornings.

Ohatchee Blueberry Farm

1161 Ingram Wells, Ohatchee

256-892-0830

Open 7:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday.

$7 a gallon for u-pick.

Run by Katie and Mike Stuckey.