History


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	With determination and a great deal of work, William and Winifred Bowerman began what is now Bowerman’s Blueberry Farm in 1954. They bought nursery stock and established blueberry bushes which they then dug up and transplanted on their 120 acres. When they were finished, the land on the corner

of James Street and 160th in Holland Michigan had 23 acres of new blueberry bushes. At the time, that was enough because they also grew corn and worked in Real Estate.

Their youngest son, Randy, worked with his parents on the Farm after school and during harvest. He also held down various jobs off the Farm. He later married but came back to the Farm to help in the evenings, on weekends, and at harvest. In 1976 Randy started working on the Farm full-time, but it was not yet large enough to support two families.


	Randy and his dad, however, came up with other ways to support the families. They started with a green house to grow blueberry bushes for themselves and to sell to other growers. They sold firewood and that first year, they chopped 65 cords by hand. They also purchased a front end loader to clear their land, and that of other growers.


	Since blueberries take 7-10 years before they mature and return any sort of tonnage to pay for their keep, building the Farm was tough work. Those first seven years were spend nurturing, irrigating, hoeing, trimming, and fertilizing the plants


	The winters were spent trimming blueberry bushes, plowing snow, and delivering firewood. The land without blueberry bushes was planted with corn while they waited for the nursery stock to grow big enough to move to the fields. Bill and Randy continued to clear more land and plant more blueberry bushes each year until they reached 88 acres.


	Randy bought the Farm from his parents in 1982 and has expanded from doing just frozen product (process), to 75% fresh. 75% of the berries from Bowerman’s now go to the fresh market.


	Randy and wife Carol have five children, four girls and one boy. Kelly, the boy, now works on the Farm with his father just as Randy did with his own. They’ve hired one more full-time, and employ 60 seasonal workers with whom they work side by side. Through the years Bowerman’s Blueberries has grown to 100 acres through hard work, and pride in their product.


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