. Wicked Wild, LLC, are stewards of the Rice families’ 105-year-old wild blueberry farm in Lubec, Maine. They are build long-term resilience into their own family farm and are also committed to helping other Downeast wild blueberry farmers overcome some of their own hurdles to former glory.
Wicked Wild has clearly defined an environmentally sustainable path to revitalize its farm. We will mechanize its harvest, institute sustainable farming practices, and process its own berries. The fields will be brought back into full organic production by removing boulders and leveling the fields to allow the use of mechanical harvesting in place of hand raking. Flail mowing will eliminate the environmentally damaging practice of burning the fields to manage weeds and pests. Appropriate irrigation and the addition of environmentally sustainable biochar as a soil amendment will produce more consistent yields in years of minimal rainfall. Assisted pollination will ensure the health and wellbeing of the plants as well as the bee population. The addition of a processing line will allow more options for direct-to-consumer distribution.
A Maine family business, the Rice family purchased the rocky, and open blueberry fields occupying Lubec, Maine in 1917. Now under the name Wicked Wild Blueberries, the Rice family has been working along these fields with love, and passion for the land for almost 106 years.
