Bluegroves Blueberries

 Local Attractions

All within a short drive, discover:

                         Tyrconnell Talbot Settlement & Backus Page House Museum,

                         E M Warwick, Big Bend, Mosa Forest and Dutton/Dunwich Conservation Areas,

                         John E Pearce Provincial Park,

                         Joe's Bush and Buttermilk Bog Nature Hiking Trails,

                         War of 1812 Battle of Longwoods site and re-enactments,

                         Cactus Cattle and Cowboys annual festival,

                         Seasonal produce roadside markets,

                         Marina and beaches,

                         Arts and Cookery Bank,

                         Shopping in Rodney, West Lorne and Dutton villages,

                         Several lakeside campgounds,

                         Pick-your-own "Lavender Sense" Farm.

A little History

The commercialization of the Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) began when certain wild blueberries in New Jersey were selected for cultivation in 1905 by Elizabeth White and Dr. Frederick Coville. Thousands of years before that blueberries were a staple food or our aboriginal peoples and they introduced them to the first european immigrants in the early 17th century. A typical first recipe was a pudding made of cornmeal and sun-dried blueberry flour called Sautauthig (pronounced saw-taw-teeg). Pemmican, a dried meat, was also flavoured  and sweetened with blueberries. Today there are more than 250 million pounds of highbush blueberries produced wordwide, with about 85-90 percent grown in North America. British Columbia produces about 90 million pounds and Ontario produces a modest 1.5 million pounds.