About 6-7 years ago Jeff planted 5 blueberry bushes from seedlings that a friend gave us. Two of them survived. The last few years they have produced really well, but this year has been amazing, we get about a gallon of berries every day or two right now and there are a ton of white ones still ripening!
It took a few years for these bushes to mature, but they have cost us nothing and they are VERY low maintenance. Jeff will prune them a bit during the winter and that is it. Here he is getting the berries on the top, it’s all really pretty funny, he always wants to beat the birds to ripe ones.
So now I’m wishing we would have planted 20 bushes!!!
Our hope is that when our children marry they will have enough property to plant bushes and trees that bear fruit. Fruit trees and bushes are fairly low maintenance and produce so much good. Not only can you harvest to eat fresh, in season foods for FREE and preserve them for the off seasons, but you can also allow others to come pick. The local you-pick farms here charge $8 a gallon for blueberries. You could plant a lot of blueberry bushes on 1 acre for land!
The other day my daughters and I were talking of all things they’d like to plant. Olivia said she wanted to plant Christmas trees each year to keep a continuous harvest of them year after year. 
Now I doubt you can support a family from blueberry bushes, unless you went big time, but it is one way to save money, eat healthy and maybe even bring in a little extra cash if you sell to family and friends. All of this helps to build your family economy!
The problem with most Americans is that we live in the moment, have little vision for the next 20 years and even less patience to watch anything grow to bear such rich, long-lasting fruit!
Just about every morning we have smoothies.
Right now it’s banana and blueberry, because that is what is in season and free, with cocoanut or almond milk!
Sometimes I add raw spinach (you can’t even taste it), strawberries, flax seed and/or walnuts,
along with a packet of stevia.
The key is to have as much of your fruit frozen as possible, especially the banana.
So what can you plant this year to build your family economy? Even if it is just one thing, make an effort to plant for your children and grandchildren. And if you have to move from where you are and leave your ‘orchard’ behind, you are still investing in someone’s economy and leaving the world a better place.
This post is linked over at The Legacy of the Home.
Stephenie says:
Fruit trees and berries have been on my list of things to plant for a long time, but I’m afraid that what’s happened to my garden this year will happen to them! Yikes! Guess all I can do is try and see what happens.
Deborah says:
In Arizona it is citrus, citrus, citrus trees. In the hot desert it is hard to grow a lot but citrus thrives. I cannot go throughout the winter without my lemons, oranges and grapefruit. And yes there is a way to get the fruit off the cacti but that takes a lot of know how and a steady hand.
I will “stick” with my grapefruits.
Briana says:
Wow, that is wonderful. I am also trying to look to the future as I plan my gardens.
deanna says:
How blessed you are to have these bushes producing nutritious fruit!
I have never had almond milk! Can you believe it?
Truly I know I need to eat more fresh fruit and vegetables.
God bless,
d from home haven
Kathy says:
Stephanie,
The thing about bushes/trees is that once they are established they are pretty hearty. Nothing like regular gardening.
Deanna, the almond milk is pretty good in a smoothie or with cereal. I haven’t had it alone in a glass. I also love the cocoanut milk in a smoothie.
Deborah says:
On blueberries and low-care. We have one bush that we watered via ridgeline ( a berm on a downhill slope) by accident this year and it produced as much as in the past when we watered “by the book”.
Its interesting that most of the diet in the Bible is fruit with herds/flocks and grains which do not require daily irrigation AND God tells the Isrealites that in the Promised Land they will not have to haul water to irrigate like they had done in Egypt. I think there is a connection here. God’s yoke is easy and His burden is light. Great stuff, Thanks