The Blueberry Years

A Memoir of Farm and Family

• Winner of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance’s Best Nonfiction Book for 2010

• Second Place in Southern Environmental Law Center’s Annual Book Contest.

The Blueberry Years captures the story of Minick’s experience creating and operating one of the mid-Atlantic’s first certified-organic, pick-your-own blueberry farms. For a decade, the author and his wife planted, pruned, and picked while also opening the field to hundreds of people who came to harvest berries. These pickers shared blueberry-flavored moonshine and sober religion, warm hugs and cool hats, and always bushels of stories. To give a larger context to the Minicks’ story, the author includes brief chapters on national issues such as organic foods and new farmers. He also includes short interludes on all things blueberry, like the fruit’s many health benefits or the blueberry in literature. Ultimately, though, this book tells the story of a young couple pursuing their blueberry dream.

Paperback release: May 8, 2012.

Click here for a review from the Tennessee Humanities.

What Others Say

A truly inspiring story, in gorgeous prose, about one family’s journey into blueberry farming. Delicious reading.”

— Naomi Wolf, author of The End of America and The Beauty Myth

There is so much to praise in this beautifully written memoir, but what I admire most is Jim Minick’s utter lack of self-righteousness. In these pages we are given a wisdom that has, at its center, a quiet and abiding humility. What a fine, fine book The Blueberry Years is.”

— Ron Rash, author of Serena

The Blueberry Years “offers gentle wisdom on the path to blueberry enlightenment.”

– Whitesbog Preservation Trust where blueberries were first domesticated

The Blueberry Years covers much more than just Minick’s farm. The story is the compelling personal experience of a young couple living out their dream. He grew friendships along with his berries and fought prejudice and short-sightedness along with the weeds.”

— Viki Rouse, associate professor of English at Walters State Community College, Morristown, TN.

The Blueberry Years an “unexpected delight.”

– Fredericksburg’s Free-Lance Star

I can’t think of anyone I more admire these days than Jim Minick. He is the real thing — a man of humility and grace who writes beautifully about the struggles of ordinary life.”

— Robert Hicks, author of Widow of the South

Minick, a poet whose honest prose sings with the rhythms of cicadas on a sultry summer eve, writes of their efforts with love and longing.”

“While it is tempting to place this story squarely among others concerning themselves with the local food movement, Minick’s book deserves something more.”

“This is a sweet and important story of hope and fortitude, love and determination, loneliness and heartbreak. It’s a story of a ripening desire, one echoed in the hearts and minds, if not the actions, of poets, dreamers and homesteaders everywhere.”

— Anita Firebaugh, reviewer for The Roanoke Times

In The Blueberry Years, the prose is as nourishing as the berries.”

— Mark Shonbeck, Virginia Biological Farmer

Fans of Michael Pollan ought to flock to this book.”

— Margaret Renkl, Chapter 16

What makes The Blueberry Years stand out among books on the organic and local food movements is how personal and experiential it is. We don’t just watch Jim and Sarah farm—we farm with them, our senses immersed in soil, weather, and plants, our hearts pulsing with their setbacks and their glories. Minick tells an unforgettable story, featuring characters we recognize, nail-biting moments of suspense, and hilarious mishaps, all steeped in the bittersweet poignancy of chasing dreams and finally leaving some behind. This book is gorgeous and important and totally engaging.”

— Ann Pancake, author of Strange as the Weather Has Been

Jim Minick is one of those farmers we all can look up to. And he can write. As I read, I remembered my own blueberry afternoons picking for market. Savor Jim’s prose, then go after the real thing: take the kids to a blueberry patch, pick up a jar of raw cream, whip it, and feast on a truly simple dessert. Or try one of the luscious recipes. And then feel good, because local food is good for farmers and for the countryside. But for me, the first and last reason to eat local food is still the same: it tastes better.”

— Nina Planck, author of Real Food: What to Eat and Why

A personal look at the daily functions of a small-scale farm enterprise.”

— Steven Hopp, co-author of Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

A surpriser. When I started reading The Blueberry Years, I figured I was about to learn everything there is to know about starting and maintaining a blueberry farm. That is true, but this book is about much more. What Jim Minick does is to paint a lovely picture of how a few people come together on a little farm to enjoy each other’s quirks and commonalities along with good food. Everyone talks these days about growing local food for local markets. Here’s what it’s like to really do it.”

— Gene Logsdon, author of Pope Mary and The Church of Almighty Good Food

This charming, homespun memoir of organic blueberry farming, written with lyrical grace by a poet-scholar, is a modern georgic, contemplating one local facet of our global food system.”

— Sharyn McCrumb, New York Times bestselling author

That Jim Minick is a poet is clear in every page of this book, not just in vivid descriptions, wordplay and lyrical cadences, but in the quiet depth, the wise connections, the warmth and understanding brought to the account of a farm, a family, a community, and way of life. Part instruction manual (with asides on etymology, history, taxonomy and recipes), memoir, meditation, chronicle and confession, The Blueberry Years is an intimate visit to a delightful place with an inspired guide.”

— Robert Morgan, author of Boone: A Biography

The Blueberry Years is about food relationships, but also about food revolution. Minick captures the heart and soul of the food healing movement, a story that can never be told enough.”

— Joel F. Salatin, author of You Can Farm and Salad Bar Beef

Book Clubs rave about it too. Here’s a sampling:

“It will be hard to enjoy a book on the level we enjoyed The Blueberry Years–a real high point for all of us.”

— Dreama Kattenbraker, Fincastle, VA Bookclub

The University of Nebraska at Kearney Women’s Club Evening Book Group read “The Blueberry Years,” and was thrilled to have author Jim Minick make a ‘guest appearance’ via conference call. Here are what some members had to say:

It was a wonderful experience to have the author comment on our questions and gave me a very different perspective on the book after our discussion than I had coming in. Having the creator of the work “in the room” brought a deeper level of understanding to the group as a whole, which I felt allowed a much richer discussion.”

— Elizabeth Ann Wethington

The Blueberry Years” blends heart, humor, and history with a giant dose of blood, sweat, and tears. It is a wholesome read, and wonderfully informative, especially for those who dream of living close to Mother Nature.”

— Melissa Hartman

Members of the book club continue to talk about how much they enjoyed hearing Jim’s actual ‘voice’ and comparing it to how they envisioned him in the story. Hearing the author talk firsthand about the challenges, rewards, and disappointments he and his wife encountered in their venture still resonates with my fellow readers and me.”

— Pam Hanson

From readers:

Minick’s ‘Blue Interlude’ sections top Steinbeck’s in Grapes of Wrath and Melville’s in Moby Dick. That’s my non-professional, non-literary-critic opinion, but I think I’m right. Then, the loneliness theme that he comes back to again and again is powerful, especially in “What We Fear” and “The Pickers II”. The longing, loss, and joy mooshed together, yet divisible, each discernible–that resonates with me. A great book.”

— Brenda Evans

Just finished reading The Blueberry Years this morning — loved it! Now I’m hankering blueberries, and it’s only April.”

— Barb Davis-Pyles

Your book is fabulous! Couldn’t put it down & didn’t want it to end. I grew up in Kona, Hawaii & your story reminded me of the rural coffee farms. Thank you for sharing your story.”

— Marcia Nelson

I’ve just finished The Blueberry Years! What a gifted writer you are; your poetry is woven throughout the pages, giving the book a feel I’ve not often found.”

— Bobbi Hahn

School Visit:

I wish every academic week had an inspiring poet plugged into the middle of it! You were wonderful and giving with both the audience at the poetry reading and the students in the class. Your visit to McDaniel was—on all fronts—a rousing success.”

— Kathy Mangan, McDaniel College

A Reading of The Blueberry Years

North Carolina Writers’ Network 2016 Spring Conference, Saturday, April 23, at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro

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