Tag Archives: Aronia Berries

food, health, organic

Great News for Aronia!

After struggling along the last few years trying to acquaint folks with the berries we produce on our farm, the fact that SPIN lists Aronia as a #2 trend couldn’t have come at a better time.

Will it instantly translate into more folks trying Aronia berries? Probably not, but it may make folks pause and Google. Because honestly, too few have heard of the little dark purple berry that has become very important in our lives. We hope anyone who Googles Aronia Berries, or Aronia Melanocarpa, will learn what we’ve known for the past 10 years. Aronia does your body good!

After SPINS recognition, folks who are interested in natural foods and health may research Aronia. We know the folks interested in bettering their health will seek items to use. Our hope is the attention garnered here will eventually translate into demand for more products containing Aronia.

Trending is fabulous! Here in Central Iowa, there are a lot of organic Aronia plants just waiting to fulfill the need. We have about 5,000 bushes on our farm ready to produce healthy organic berries next Fall.

Huge boost in visibility for aronia from SPINS this week, which named aronia #2 on their 2019 trends. SPINS is widely…

Posted by Melanie Kahn on Saturday, January 19, 2019
Uncategorized

AntiOxidant Punch!

It’s definitely cold and cough season in Central Iowa!  Around our house the grandchildren have all had ear infections, croup or just a crummy cold/cough.   Their parents have had sinus and ear infections and Woody even caught the crud and ended up with sinus infection.  BUT…guess who just has a little evening tickle and cough?  Why?

I’ve been drinking or using more Aronia each day for the past month when all the snotting, sneezing and hacking started around our house.   In cereal or oatmeal, in soups, on salads, you name it, I have it with Aronia.  One of my most recent creations is to juice some berries and use about 2 oz of juice in a glass of orange juice.  It’s also a great icee if you zap the oranges and berries and ice in the Vitamix!   I call it my Antioxidant Punch:)

The powerful punch of our little purple berries packs a knock-out for virus germs so prevalent right now.  See for yourself!

food, health, organic

Taking Advantage of the Rain!

Most of the weekend we’ve been drenched in central Iowa.  A washed out Labor Day weekend.  So what do we do?  Bake!   I wish you could smell our house about now.

Folks are always asking me what we do with “those” berries.  We get creative.   We use them in chocolate chip cookies, apple pie, fudge, pancakes, beef stew, chili, meatballs and meatloaf, salads, pancakes, lemonade, muffins, banana bread, you name it, I try it.  The recipe page includes some of our favorites.  It includes the new one that’s in the oven.

The house smells amazing and it tastes just as good!

Pear Aronia Granola

 

food, health, organic

Almost Harvest Time

The summer is winding down, the Iowa State Fair begins this week, and before you know it school will be starting.   Must mean Aronia berry harvest is right around the corner.   The fields have gone from barren, to beautiful white blooms, to being filled with almost black berries now.  We’re taste testing and using the refractometer to know when the flavor is at its peak of perfection and nutrition.

Here at our farm, and at farms across Iowa, many Aronia growers will be hosting folks to pick their own berries this year.  Why should you?   If you look back through some of these posts, you will see many, many reasons to stock your freezer with these healthy little gems.   The studies are proving their benefits in so many health issues.

We eat them in so many ways.  The other night for example we had them in salad, salad dressing, and in a sauce to be used on the pork chops.  Why?  Of course they’re free here and we have them all year round, but let me tell you what happened when my husband went to the pain specialist recently.   Yes he has osteoarthritis terribly from several orthopedic surgeries (he should almost be bionic by now), but the pain doctor said for his age (82) he’s in really good shape compared to many and looked good.  Her question was why.  He said we’d been eating the Aronia berries for about the last 8 years.  She was going to get some.  It was proof enough for her.   He recently had blood work done again.  His results are always really good.  We know why.

This little lady is one of the other reasons why…

So watch here for times and dates to pick your own.   Spend a little time in nature, plan to bring the family, stock the freezer, we’ll teach you how to use them.  We’ll all be glad you did!

food, health, organic

It’s a War Zone!

Saturday was a warm, almost Spring day in Central Iowa.  So what did we do?  Head out to the fields!

Last year our very first Aronia field yielded very little fruit.  It was originally planted almost 10 years ago.  Woody decided it was time for a pruning.  You see, Aronia Melanocarpa is native to the area and is very hardy perennial shrub.   Our son, Kendall, cut back the nearly 200 bushes from over 6′ to about 6-10″ inches.   We expect them to send up straight new shoots this spring.  They won’t have fruit, but they will be preparing for another several years of production.

Now we just have to clean up all those branches we cut off and raked to the aisles.  Meanwhile, it looks kind of like a war zone!

food, health, organic, Uncategorized

Beautiful No Matter the Season

I always forget to take pictures out in the Aronia berry fields during the winter months.  It doesn’t seem possible this was just on Monday as we were going out for a walk and to do some sledding.  We knew the snow wouldn’t last, but the fields are beautiful, no matter what season.

IMG_6828

health, Uncategorized

Another Aronia Berry Hurdle Cleared

Today we became official!  We have become a licensed processing plant.  What used to be our garage has been turned into a facility to process foods.  We have plans to package and sell our certified organic Aronia Berries online, to customers, and stores.  A Preview of our Label

Another step toward sharing these little purple gems with others!

 

Uncategorized

Excited and Maybe Crazy?

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?

Uncategorized

A Little Bit About What I Do In My Spare Time…

Okay, I have to add this…you’ll see why if you get to the third paragraph.  Unfortunately we weren’t able to attend.  (It was the same week as Woody’s heart procedure, but we were there in thought.)

Midwest Aronia Association 5th Annual Conference

“Let’s Get Growing” Moline, Illinois  March 21, 2015

Midwest Aronia Association held their 2015 conference in Moline, Illinois, March 19-21. This annual Midwest event is the largest gathering of Aronia growers in the nation, drawing speakers and attendees from across the United States, as well as internationally, to network, learn and share information about the Super Fruit, Aronia berry.  Aronia has been introduced in recent years as a value-added sustainably grown crop, and researchers continue to discover the numerous health benefits of the dark purple berry.

The Midwest Aronia Association is a non-profit group whose focus is education concerning Aronia. Main goals include assisting growers, and re-establishing Aronia as a healthy staple in modern diets by introducing Aronia berries to consumers. With grower-members throughout the United States and Canada, there is growing focus on local and regional marketability as well as expanding domestic market growth and development of the Aronia industry.

With approximately 150 attendees, events included management practices; marketing and business development; labeling, processing and Regional Chapter development. The conference opened with a well-received Recipe Contest for which participants contributed an Aronia-based food and recipe for judging and eventual inclusion in an Aronia Cookbook with a Harvest Season 2015 targeted publication date.  Additional Aronia recipes will be accepted throughout April.  Other topics included site preparation, harvesting, soil nutrition and cultural management, storm and pest damage mitigation, irrigation, crop insurance, processing, product development and marketing.  The Aronia Promoter of the Year award was given to Peggy Fogle for her tireless efforts in organizing and staffing the successful Iowa State Fair MAA booth and other volunteer activities.  Dr. Terry Wahls whose research on nutrition in the study of traumatic brain injury and Multiple Sclerosis delivered the keynote address after the annual banquet.

The MAA annual business meeting and board member elections were held during the conference. 10 officers/committee chairs were retained or elected to the board. For more information about Aronia and the MAA, please visit www.midwestaronia.org