History of Czaika's Blueberry Farm

In the early 1950’s Joe and Donna Czaika bought 20 acres of land south of Tawas City, Michigan and west of US 23. After clearing the land by hand during evenings, weekends, and holidays, Joe and his son, Joe, Jr. planted highbush blueberry bushes.

Joe Sr. was a test farmer for Michigan State University’s South Haven Experiment Station. Highway M 46 had been considered the general northern limit for cultivated blueberries, except near large bodies of water. However, of the over 40 varieties Joe Sr. tested, only four were viable this far north. Over the years, Joe Sr. has had between three and five acres planted with combinations of these four varieties.

Czaika’s Blueberry Farm has always been a family business. Joe Jr. continued to help his dad in the fields. And while they were all growing up, he and his two oldest sisters, Sharon and Janet, would pick, clean, and package the berries for sale in local stores and to neighbors. As these kids went off to college and married, the farm became strictly U-pick with the youngest sib, Lynne, tending the till. Throughout the years, opening day of berry season has become a working family reunion. Everybody pitches in. Currently, Joe and Donna’s kids and spouses, grandkids and spouses, and great grandkids are an integral part of opening day at the blueberry farm.

Donna passed on in 1999 and Joe Sr. in 2003. In May, 2004 Joe Jr. (now just Joe) and his wife, Sharon, attained their goal of retiring to Tawas to own and run Czaika’s Blueberry Farm.