BERRY PRODUCTION Our farm was named after the the Shagbark Hickory trees that grow there. It is the perfect environment for red raspberries. Gentle slopes provide the air circulation needed to grow large sweet raspberries. The field area we chose is surrounded by Tulip Poplars, one of the first trees to bloom in spring. The tulip poplars bring the first bees of the season, an important ingredient to raspberry growing! In spring of 2010, we installed 1/2 acre of red raspberries. The plan is to be able to offer red raspberries all summer so we planted 3 varieties. Boyne, an early summer variety, Kilarney, a plump juicy summer variety, Encore, a later summer variety. Boyne - Released in 1960, Boyne is an early-season variety that is extremely winter hardy. It consistently produces deep-red, medium-sized berries with a delicious sweet flavor. This raspberry is very productive, extremely hardy, and has a superior disease resistance. It produces a large crop of huge juicy berries in early July. It is an old favorite that is a good performer. Killarney - Released in 1961, Killarney is extremely winter hardy and was hybridized in Manitoba.. It is an early mid season variety ripening about a week after Boyne. It has an attractive bright-red color and a good raspberry aroma and flavor. The canes grow upright, are medium-sized and sturdy. One of the most disease resistant varieties, making it very easy to maintain. Killarney is very sweet for a raspberry. Encore - A release from the Cornell Small Fruit Breeding Program in Geneva, NY; tested as NY 7. With excellent winter hardiness and fruiting in late midseason, Encore berries are large, with very coherent druplets, and have good raspberry flavor. Plants are vigorous, sturdy, upright, and nearly spineless. Encore is a good choice for extending the summer raspberry season 2011 brought an incredible harvest and we sold many pints of fresh berries as well as red raspberry jam and red raspberry sauce at local markets. Read about our Red Raspberry products here.

---

RASPBERRY FARM HISTORY

In February 2010 we began clearing the site we chose for our berries. This involved removing a band of invasive non-native red cedars. By early April we were able to bring an excavator in to terrace the hillside and begin moving our soil mix of mushroom compost, top soil and sand to the terraces. The week of April 27, 2010, our raspberry plants arrived and so did spring rains. We learned many ways to get around in the rain! By May we designed and installed our irrigation system that involves pumping water from our pond about 500 feet downhill, uphill to holding tanks. Simple in it's design. Complex in execution! By July we began working on the trellis system that Raspberries need.

In 2011 we brought our first raspberry harvests to market. 2011 was the wettest and rainiest year on record in our area. As our field is cut into a slope and terraced, we experienced a pretty awesome mudslide in the upper side of the field. In two very condensed, very wet weeks weeks we installed a 4 foot by 110ft retaining wall. Most of it done in pouring rain. By late Spring we began to see indication of many "critters" visiting our raspberry field. From the tracks, it looked to be deer, raccoons as the main offenders. We built a pretty ingenious electric fence that seems to keep all critters out but us and the birds.

 

MILESTONES IN OUR RASPBERRY FIELD IN PICTURES
CLEARING	TERRACING	CANES INSTALLED
IRRIGATION ESTABLISHED	TRELLISING INSTALLED	MUDSLIDE DEFEATED
BERRY PRODUCTION	BERRY HARVEST	DEERS DEFEATED
	AUTUMN 2011