Biting wind and freezing temperatures greeted Cal Hucks and his Coosaw Farms crew at the blueberry grower’s St. Helena Island fields Tuesday.
A rare snowstorm was bearing down on the Lowcountry and threatening to wipe out more than 100,000 of Coosaw’s valuable blueberry crop 2 1/2 months before the harvest, when the berries are sold at grocery stores up and down the East Coast, including locally.
Dressed in full snow gear, the crew, prepared to work all night, got down to business. But covering the delicate plants was not part of this mission. Ironically, the Coosaw Farm workers began making ice to counter the killer cold, spraying over 80 acres of land with water that froze and entombed the berries and their white and pink flowers…