Watauga County Farmers' Market

Carol has called her 21-acre Butler, Tennessee farm "home" since 1977. The blueberry bushes were planted with the help of neighbors and sons in 1982.

Even when Carol moved to Wyoming, then on to California, the blueberry farm was always her real "home". When she was finally able to return to her farm in 2000, she found many of the bushes completely entangled with wild roses and brambles. With the help of her partner, Susan Jacoby, Carol slowly uncovered the 1003 blueberry bushes that had patiently waited for her return. That spring, a neighbor called and said, "I read 'Under the Tuscan Sun' last winter, and every time I pass your farm and see you and Susan working on the blueberry hill, I think of that book. The author rescued an olive grove in Italy, and it's good to see you bringing your farm back, too."

Since the summer of 2000, there have been plenty of berries for the farmers market and for the birds. There are both highbush and lowbush varieties of blueberries. This provides a steady flow of fruit from mid-June through July.

" 'Live like you are going to die tomorrow, but farm like you will live forever.' I don't know who said it, but that's how I feel." (Carol)

Susan has been a lifetime advocate of organic farming methods and natural life- style practices. She is a practitioner of herbal medicine and the whole food approach to health. She has taught seminars on both coasts and given individual consultations for the past 25 years to people with many different challenges and backgrounds. Susan and Carol began working together almost ten years ago with Carol providing the emotional healing aspect to the work. "I devote myself entirely to the blueberries this time of year, as I need them for my own healing and rejuvenation. I am happy up there in that sea of blue tranquility. And it is a privilege to be able to contribute in a genuine way to the Watauga County Farmer's Market. To be able to remind folks what a real blueberry, no poison, and freshly hand-picked, should taste like, lest we forget."

Carol and Susan can be reached for questions, comments, appointments, blueberries, highest quality medicinal herbs or to sign up for their upcoming monthly newsletter by way of e-mail or by calling 423-768-3968.