Billy Rico’s blueberries are ready at his farm where he offers a you-pick-’em operation that will extend into blackberries once they are ripe. Rico grows his blueberries on a Mt. Olivet community hilltop not far from where Tom McCullar grows peaches for farmers markets and roadside sales in a season that also began this week and will extend into September. Small scale farming of fruits and vegetables is increasing in Panola County with emphasis on locally-grown products and the extended drought in the west.
The Panolian photo by John Howell