LACLEDE, Idaho — Stan Urmann grows blueberries near Laclede, Idaho, halfway between Sandpoint and Priest River.

This family farm is run by Stan, his wife, Anita, and their daughter, Whitney.

He grew up on an apple farm in California, then in the early 1990s Stan and his wife decided to move to Idaho.

“One of my high school buddies was growing blueberries in northern California. At that time there were no blueberry farms in northern Idaho and we were met with skepticism from the ag extension people at the University of Idaho; we were told that blueberries wouldn’t grow here,” Stan said. “Back then, we didn’t have the internet. Information had to be found the old-fashioned way — talking to people, calling people or doing research in a library.”

He and Anita started looking for a piece of land for a blueberry farm.

“We bought a 12-acre parcel just off Highway 2 in Laclede and put in 6,000 plants in 1994,” Stan said.

The plants they bought were already 3 or 4 years old and starting to produce, but it took until 2005 for them to produce at a profitable level.

“We took a bare piece of land and put in the infrastructure and a drip irrigation system because blueberries need a lot of water, spread over time,” he said. “They are very shallow-rooted. With drip irrigation every plant has its own source, to provide about a gallon per day if there is no rain. We have a good well and use a lot of water.”

The berries have never been sprayed, he said.

“There are not many insect pests or diseases. We use synthetic nitrogen as fertilizer and a lot of mulch (grass and sawdust) which also adds nitrogen to the soil. We are not certified organic but have a sustainable method of growing blueberries,” he said.

“Between wild turkeys, our neighbor’s ducks, chickens and turkeys, and all the pigeons, guinea hens and birds in our area, after harvest ends in early September they clean up any berries on the ground,” he said. “If you don’t get rid of those old berries you end up with diseases in the soil. The birds resolve that problem and leave their droppings which makes a nice organic fertilizer.”

They also have deer and elk, and an occasional moose. Bears come around in the fall and eat a few berries.

“Many farms have fences to try to keep wildlife out, but I feel the wildlife need to eat, too, and they are helping me! After 29 years, it seems to be working,” he said.

Starting the farm was a gamble but it paid off.

“Blueberries love cold weather. If we get snow or it’s below zero, the plants are dormant and come back with a lot of vigor in the spring. When the ground dries up in late March, we go to work pruning, and controlling weeds and grass,” he said.

Harvest is July into August. The farm produces about 40,000 to 50,000 pounds of blueberries each year, picked by local help.

“We started with local kids and families. Now we also have a local group of Filipino ladies who do a lot of our harvesting. All our other help during summer for picking, sorting and packing is local kids,” Stan said. “We’ve been doing it for so long that the kids working for us now are children of some who worked for us earlier!”

His wife helps with the farmers markets. Their daughter, Whitney, was a public relations major in college and handles most of the advertising and branding the products.

“We have an on-farm sales store that sells fresh-picked berries, our jams, syrups, baked pies and other items. Our U-pick is about 15 to 20% of sales. At our farm we use the honor system. People can do their own picking; we have markers showing where they can go,” he said. “They take their buckets, follow the signs, come back and weigh the berries, bag and clean them and leave us the money in a box.”

The field foreman, Pixie Kluver, is part of the field management during harvest.

We usually start harvesting right after the Fourth of July and are open seven days a week, through daylight hours.

Blueberries are a popular, healthy food. “We got a big boost 20 years ago when blueberries were recognized as a super food. Now our berries are sold in 19 stores — Super One and Yoke’s. They carry our berries fresh during the season, and fresh-frozen the rest of the year,” he said.