NEW BEAUTIFUL FALL FRUITS TO TRY NOW
NEW FRUITS TO TRY THIS FALL
Saskatoon berries??? Yum!
Harvest time is loaded with tradition as farmers reap what they’ve sown for generations. While traditional fall crops like apples and pumpkins make us happy, we love discovering new autumn treats.
Blue Fruit Farm, a small organic establishment in Winona, Minnesota delivers more unusual deliciousness: aronia berries, elderberries, black currants, blue plums, honeyberries, Juneberries, and cherry plums, to name a few.
The 5-acre farm is run by Jim Riddle and Joyce Ford and it is a labor of love. The couple began farming the land in 2009, beginning with a crop of blueberries -- hence the name, “Blue Fruit Farm.”
When they first started, the soil on this parcel was not ideal, so they added compost, peat moss, and elemental sulfur to the soil to correct its pH and nutrient composition.
After the blueberries began to flourish, the couple began to experiment with other blue fruit crops, adding the elderberries, aronia berries, black currants, blue plums, honeyberries, Juneberries, and cherry plums to diversify.
They developed healthy practices like composting and once the plants hit dormancy in the fall, cutting them back to the ground to reduce excess vigor and naturally control diseases and pests.
Now, Riddle and Ford want to share these “new” flavors so more people can appreciate and enjoy. They are sharing their knowledge with other farmers, as they teach their local Extension educators and other growers how to grow these beautiful esoteric crops.
It’s all about diversity.
While many people know and love blueberries, and these locally grown organic blueberries are a real treat, the Blue Fruit Farm has had to rise to the challenge of educating the market on their more unusual fruits. These fruits are beautiful, tasty and full of health benefits. The Farm holds workshops and fruit tastings to help spread the word. We can’t wait to try haskap berries, cherry plums, and Saskatoon berries in particular.
Beyond the sheer delight it brings to enjoy new flavors, crop diversity is important because it is healthier for both the plants themselves and the humans that consume their fruits. Riddle and Ford have learned that variety matters. For example, they learned that a variety of black currant — ‘Consort’ — was susceptible to powdery mildew, but another — ‘Titania’ — wasn’t. Instead of fighting a disease or pest with herbicides or pesticides, it makes better sense to plant varieties that are not susceptible in the first place.
Varietal choice also matters when it comes to taste, of course. For example, ‘Night Mist’ and ‘MidNightBlue’ honeyberries are extremely bitter, but ‘Aurora’ and ‘Beauty’ honeyberries are delicious and not bitter at all.
Monocrops and climate change have increased pest problems. While some farmers respond with chemical “solutions,” Riddle and Ford have had more success growing elderberries on primocane, the first-year canes, which after a dormant or rest period, bloom and fruit the following year. This helps keep the pest and disease pressure down.
Blue Fruit Farm also manages pest control by planting garlic at the base of their cherry plum trees and then using a garlic foliar spray. The main pest, plum curculio doesn’t like garlic.
Fruit is hand harvested at Blue Fruit Farm, so they are very thorough in removing fruit from the field which also helps to reduce pest problems.
Several species of native spiders keep problematic pests, such as spotted wing drosophila (SWD), aka fruit flies in check, further safeguarding Blue Fruit Farm’s berries.
Native beneficial insects, such as bumblebees, sweat bees, and various wasps act as pollinators. Blue Fruit Farm takes diversity so seriously, that it also applies to their understory plantings — things that supply alternative food sources for pollinators.
You’ll be happy to know you can help promote crop diversity too! Look for new varieties of fruits and vegetables at your local food stores and farmers’ markets and give them a try. Or, if you find yourself in southeastern Minnesota, you can shop the beautiful autumn harvest grown gathered by the Blue Fruit Farm.
Add even more diversity to your fall menu with heirloom pumpkins and heirloom cabbages.
Read more about Autumn Beauty all this week on BeautifulNow. And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Wellness, Impact, Nature/Science, Food, Arts/Design, and Travel, Daily Fix posts.
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