U-Pick Blueberries est. 2010

Fast forward to 2022, a lot has happened off Dominion Road out on the blueberry farm. Take this past weekend for an example. U-Pick Blueberries celebrated the community with their Harvest Hoe Down with the addition of pumpkins. Families came out with their children and grandchildren to partake in the festivities. Old fashion tractor hay rides driven by Mike Mahoney were a massive hit for the young and old alike. The tractor took people to the pumpkin patch to hand-select their favorite jack-o-lantern to carve for Halloween. Tiny children could scoop rocks with hand-operated moving tractors, play pumpkin checkers, and golf with a pumpkin theme at each interactive site. Adults could create their pumpkin succulent in a class guided by Anna Yates of So Succulent!. Big kids raced go-carts around their manmade dirt track steering around obstacles and other drivers. Local vendors filled the barn and front yard for the savvy shopper with some homemade wares and local artisans. With her Nana Bandanas Leatherworks, Sally Donaldson wowed the crowd with her dazzling bracelet designs. Roam Essentials Co. created handcrafted earrings on site as she sold them to her customers. Rustic Desires was on site with her affordable western wear. Peachy Pairs sold fun bright-colored earrings and hair bows.
And now, let’s talk about the food; Shady Lady had her four pepper homegrown red pepper sauce, Sisquoc Baking Co with their homemade bread, scones, and pretzels. Pink Sugar Blossoms custom sweet treats fed the kids with cake pops and caramel apples as they milled the grounds. Woven Coffee Roasters added caffeine to the crowd with roasted coffees. Frances Ferrari delighted our senses with her olive oil tasting that finished with an apple to clean your palate. There were Food trucks selling corn on the cob, ice cream, and street tacos as the weekend went on.
Amidst the fun and glory of the harvest hoe down weekend, I took a moment of Carol Mahoney’s time to ask about the farm and her vision for the future.

The family acquired the property in 2004 and planted blueberries with their first harvest in 2010. Over the years, they sold their berries to Driscolls. Due to a surplus of fruit remaining from the Central Valley blueberry crops taking over the market, the Mahoneys had a choice to make about the excess. Carol and Mike’s daughter, Sara, said to purchase buckets at Home Depot for her friends to come to pick berries themselves, the farm as we know it today began its transformation, and U-Pick berries became a thing. Since then, they have added strawberries, plums, apricots, and a hundred apple trees. With the kids’ help, the Mahoney’s added pumpkins, too.
The barn opened in 2021 with a vision but has since changed to glorify God and how that looks. “I am a worker bee,” states Carol and plans to have Passover next spring with a bible study and Charter School field trips. The capacity is 80 people or less and is perfect for showers and small intimate gatherings.
Mike begins his day on the 19-acre farm at 7:00 am. He sold all the big tractors that he used in his conventional farming, and now it is a one-tractor farm, no spraying, and is manicured and groomed by hand. During the U-Pick berry season, they see tourists from Iran, New York, Tehachapi, and Los Angeles. Customers from Los Angeles have driven up to the farm to pick their berries and drive back in the afternoon, proving their popularity and excellent quality.
As the pumpkin harvest season winds down, their next project will be to build outdoor toilets with septic. The Mahoney’s ‘biggest’ vision is to teach the grandchildren to work it and be interested in it, meaning the farm and all that it offers. Carol tells Mike she is investing in her grandchildren. She sees the love and interest in their eyes as they work all day, and the grandkids don’t complain and are eager to do more. That is a true testament to family spirit.

Also available this weekend were homemade apple butter, cookies & cupcakes, toffee, culinary salts & herb seasonings, macrame art, hand-strung jewelry, playdoh, and last but not least, a scarecrow competition.

Don’t miss the fun this harvest season; stop by for a visit with the Mahoney family U-Pick Blueberries {and pumpkins} located at 3655 Dominion Road, Santa Maria, CA. 805.260.0497