SWANSEA, S.C. — Bee Haven Berry Farm in Swansea planted blueberry bushes four years ago with the hopes of yielding lots of blueberries to share with the community.
"About half of our bushes got frost damage," farm owner, Dawn Duperre explained. "You can see at the bottom of the bushes, the buds just look so bad."
After a late freeze in March, they lost about half their crop for the summer season.
"Not all of our berries were in bloom yet, just the early varieties, so they got zapped but the later ones hadn't all gone into bloom yet. We do have some blueberries, but it is going to be limited. We'll probably just do two or three weekends with 'you-pick'," Duperre said.
The farm takes produce, eggs, and honey products to local markets every season.
One of the places they sell their produce is at Horse Sense Tack and Feed in Lexington, when the store hosts community markets.
Store owner, Tracey Yeske says when farms struggle, there is a domino effect into the local economy.
"If you buy local then 75-85% of that money will stay local but when you buy out of big box stores, you're lucky if 40% of that money stays local," Yeske explained.
Although Bee Haven will only have about half of what they expected to yield this year, they say they are grateful to have any crop at all.
"You know you can't control the weather when you're a farmer so we're just hoping for the best," Duperre said.
The farm expects to start inviting families for their 'you-pick season' within the next two weeks.
Bee Haven Berry Farm will be at Horse Sense Tack and Feed in Lexington tomorrow for a summer market from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.