By Carol Fisher-Linn
Who remembers the comedic episode with Lucille Ball at a grape farm famously stomping in a grape vat? Participants in yoga classes at Burdick’s Blueberry farm will enjoy the absolute opposite – a peace-filled experience stepping away from hustle and bustle and into the calm of nature while gently practicing their yoga moves. Skillfully taught by Ellicottville’s DAFF’S owner and certified Yoga practitioner for 17 years, Laura Solly, participants are invited to enjoy the experience over-looking the best of nature in the beautiful pastoral environment of Burdick’s blueberry/flower farm. In one hour, from 6-7pm, Solly will skillfully and gently help you to relax, clear your mind, breathe deeply and stretch out as you reconnect with nature and drink in its purity in that pastoral setting. Bring your yoga mat and come as you are! Tickets ($25) can be purchased by visiting the website – burdickblueberries.net. Tickets are only valid if purchased through the official page and are NON-REFUNDABLE! Classes will go on – rain or shine. If it is rainy, there is a covered facility where the classes will be held. Dates are Thursday, June 25, Thursday, July 30; Friday July 31; Thursday, August 27; Thursday September 24. The yoga class is open to anyone age 16 or over and is available to all levels who can maneuver down on the mat as well as standing. Once berry picking is open mid-July (estimated July16) guests can also pick their own flowers. When you are coming to the yoga class, you are encouraged to come early if you wish to pick because the farm closes by 8pm.
The property has a long history held by the Burdick family. In 1937 Grandfather Milton Burdick leased the property and raised potatoes on it for fifteen years while he also tended to a dairy farm in the valley below the farm. By 1952 post WWII years, they purchased the parcel (70 acres) and began the process of planting blueberry bushes. Bush by bush they dug holes and planted in what would eventually become 30,000 plants.
On hand in those early days were Milton’s daughter Helen Edwards and her husband Roger who moved to the farm in the early sixties to lend a hand tending the farm over the next four decades along with their three children, Paula Jo, Peter and Amy. They mentored their daughter Paula Jo who then ran the farm from around 2000 until her unexpected death in 2014. Today, another daughter, Amy Edwards owns and manages the farm with her partner Beth Strasser. Previously living in California with careers of their own, they changed course and came home in 2015 to continue the family tradition. Amy manages the farm and Beth manages the retail and flower production, Bluems.
In 2019 a private Guest House attached to their farmhouse, was included in the farm’s amenities – featuring two en suite bedrooms—one a queen, the other a double—which open into the living space and kitchen. A few steps from the main space is a separate small house, “the bunkhouse”, which includes a double bed and two bunkbeds. Outside, enjoy the patio, spacious lawns, and in-ground pool. Open all year round, an off-season stay at the guest house goes from the bustling in-season picking and traffic to experiencing your own park where you can wander along the blueberry path-ways or enjoy the twenty some acres of woodland and the wildlife during the changing seasons. Visit in winter, bring your snowshoes and you can simply ski out from your front door. Paradise moments from home.
Burdick Blueberries is located at 8267 Thompson Rd. in Cattaraugus, NY 14719. They can be reached by calling: 716-257-9760.
Reach Laura at Laurasollyyoga on Instagram, laurasollyyoga@yahoo.com or by calling: 716 353-0951.