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We know how healthy blueberries are for us. The chart here shows the anti-oxidant score of Aronia, blueberries and other common fruits. This shows why we believe so strongly in Aronia.
When friends have asked what we grow, we tell them Aronia Berries and go on to explain the health benefits.
The article here does a much better job of explaining why the berries are considered a Super Fruit. The article also mentions several research studies which have been done to support the health claims.
In August 2015, we hosted the Warren County Farm Tour (WCFT) not knowing what to expect. It was an overwhelming success. We had anticipated 100-150 people and thought that would be a great turnout. Wow, did we underestimate the WCFT. We guesstimate 600-800 visitors came through our farm on a beautiful day last August.
In 2016, we are gearing up for round two of the WCFT which will be August 28, 2016, 11 AM to 6 PM. We are baking, mowing, baking, pulling weeds, baking, and preparing. We want to have lots of items available for the visitors to sample.
One of the things we learned was people wanted to learn more and pick berries. So if Mother Nature cooperates, we will have berries for the visitors to pick. We will be offering a U-Pick Operation prior to the event as well. As soon as the berries are available, we will advertise an
offer folks the opportunity to come pick their own superfood! We are anxious for folks to experience the health benefits of Aronia Berries.
We are hosting with the help of our friends: Larry & Jan Fife will have food with Aronia ingredients. Eric Shaffer will be here to discuss Shaffer Tactical, be sure to sign up for your CCW class with Eric. My sister and neice, Polly Thiel and Amanda Young will be here to aquaint visitors with their business, Paws at Home. Our daughter, Kristin, will be here acquainting folks with LuLaRoe and Scentsy. We will also have Ron Christensen displaying some of his historic machinery. There should be a little something for everyone.
Recently I had the opportunity to visit with Amy from Iowa Public Radio about Aronia. It was an interesting morning…Listen Here
It has been quite a while since I last posted. Between keeping up with grandchildren, grass and weeds, I don’t know what grows faster!
We tried something a bit different this year to keep weeds/grass down in the fields. Suppress herbicide is an OMRI approved burn-down product for grass and weeds in Organic operations. It worked well, but did not last the entire season. We will have to plan for more of it now that we have experimented with it. In the areas we sprayed, the weeds/grass are not as heavy. We continue to live and learn as we grow. So now we are out pulling, clipping, and trimming in the fields. We are “feeling” every single weed and our age. If we didn’t feel so strongly about the health benefits or organics and if I wasn’t so sensitive, believe me in the middle of a field at 93 degrees with a high heat index, it would be so tempting. But it won’t happen.
We are watching the berries begin to turn red and some purple and wondering about the timing this year. Things seem to be maturing earlier than usual by a couple of weeks.
This year we are hoping to have fresh berries on the bushes for the Warren County Farm Tour’s second year. We are hoping to have berries on the bushes for folks to pick their own, if Mother Nature cooperates. The WCFT last year brought between 600-800 folks to our farm to learn more about Aronia. We were overwhelmed. In preparation for this year, we are planning better and hoping August 28th is a beautiful day! We also hope folks come hungry, I’ve been baking Aronia breads, pies, and making jam/jellies.
As we sit here in Central Iowa and watch the weird weather, we are preparing for the coming year. The warm, warm late winter has encouraged the leaves to begin appearing on the Aronia plants. Yes, we all loved the warm weather and we were all outside, but we knew it was too early.
We’ve been learning about chilling units, chill hours, etc. The time the Aronia plants need to “sleep” in the winter. Seems like the magic number is somewhere around 1000-1200 hours and then buds begin to burst. The problem may be when this happens too early (like this year) we all hold our breath that a late freeze won’t ruin crop production by freezing off or frosting the precious flower buds which eventually become our crop. Maybe you have a fruit tree that the same thing happens too occasionally. Mother Nature is in charge!
We’re also preparing for the coming year in other ways. Planning for the Warren County Farm Tour begins in earnest tomorrow. Mark your calendars for August 28! We will be having a U-Pick operation here that day and hope many visitors will enjoy the berries, recipes and products we will have on hand.
So as we “weather” the cold tonight, we will still be thinking berries!
Today we can finally relax a little. It’s been a while since I posted. We’ve been through a lot since the last post. July 7th started out with farm pictures for the Fogle’s 40 Organic Acres Facebook page. Woody in his Papa Bernstein bear hat and the girls and I. No big deal, except I really don’t like to have my picture taken, but after that day, I’m not going to fuss. These pictures could have been our last. Woody went to mow Field 4, which we can’t see from the house. He and the mower slipped into the pond. He was trapped under water and under the mower. He had given up and decided to push one more time, he was able to lift the mower off of him enough to get out and swim up the 8′ or so he was underwater. God wasn’t ready for him just yet. We are so, so grateful! Bumps and bruises healed.
It seems like ages ago the Iowa State Fair booth in the Ag Building was set up to greet many of the million visitors to the Fair. We worked several times and educated folks about all things Aronia. We met many wonderful growers and folks interested in Aronia. I have to share about two folks stick in my mind. The first was a middle-aged woman who was told she was pre-diabetic and had to take a medication. She related that she began eating about a handful of berries six months ago and made no other dietary changes. On a recent visit to her doctor her blood work was so much better, they discontinued her medicine. She told the doctor it was due to the berries, that was the only change. He didn’t believe her. Yet many of us know “Food is Medicine”. She will continue to tell folks and eat her handful of berries! If that wasn’t amazing enough, not more than 10 minutes later, a gentleman came by and told us he’s been using Aronia concentrate for the past year and he feels more like 50 than his 80 years. He has even persuaded his daughter to use the concentrate and give it to his grandchildren. He was completely sold on the health benefits.
The amazing part of this Fair presence was that more folks had heard about Aronia than last year. What a difference a year made. It’s exciting to be in the emerging Aronia industry.
We harvested Aronia berries on August 22nd, the last Saturday of the Fair! We had wonderful youth and adult helpers representing two softball teams, a 4-H group, the church youth and some old friends. We hand-picked almost 2000 pounds of berries on that Saturday. Needless to say we were all exhausted. It’s hard work and I am reminded every year I need to get in better shape. We hope to be fully recovered from the cicada damage next year and have even a bigger harvest. We are planning to use a mechanical harvester next year.
After harvesting, we plunged head into the Warren County Farm Tour. Not knowing what to truly expect, we worked with our neighbors, Larry & Jan Fife of the Ring King, to provide Aronia themed foods. We also had doTerra essential oils, Scentsy, Paws at Home Pet Care, information about Aronia’s benefits, plants, and information on how to care for organic plants. We thought we may have a 150-200 folks visit. Last night, when the driveway was cleared out and all the food was gone, we figured we’d had closer to 500-600 visitors. Two hundred families had entered for the gift basket! It was crazy!!! We were overwhelmed with the interest in the unique farms that make up a portion of Warren County. Our thanks to all who visited, organized, and promoted the 2015 Warren County Farm Tour.
We are especially grateful to our entire family, without whom we couldn’t have made it through the past two months!
Woody and I have made a commitment to be a part of the 2015 Warren County Farm Tour. We are excited, a little anxious about the preparation and timing though. We finish co-chairing the Midwest Aronia Association’s Iowa State Fair booth in the Ag Building on the 23rd of August and will host the Farm Tour on August 30. Sometime around there we will be harvesting as well. Crazy? Maybe, but we feel strongly folks need to know about the benefits of the Aronia berry. There is all kinds of research being done on how to use these very-high antioxidant berries. The article below explains a little bit about the excitement.
Aronia (aka Chokeberries) – the Next Super food for Athletes?
The Aronia berry blossoms are beginning to pop open! Our fields are not only beautiful, but as the dog indicates, they smell good too. His nose was just lifted and sniffing, it was too cute to resist. This time he was not sniffing for deer!
We’re thankful too, the Weed Badger we’d waited for all last summer is working well and we have high hopes it will make our life much easier and our berries healthier. It sure has changed the appearance of the fields.
Dice 2-3 apples (no need to peel). Mix apples along with 1/2 cup Aronia berries. Mix cooled spaghetti and pudding mixture all together. Refrigerate overnight. Mix with large carton Cool Whip the next morning. Makes a large salad. Can easily be made gluten free with gluten free spaghetti.