By Alan on Jul 24 in Daily Inspiration tagged a visit to an advanced Master Gardener's farm, asparagus, currants, Dennis Adamson, Duane and Erln Madsen, gooseberries, Mapleton, master gardner, raspberries, Ut | 2 Comments

A Visit to an Advanced Master Gardener’s Farm

A couple of weeks ago many of our Advanced Master Gardener Group visited the farm of one of our members.  Duane and Erlyn Madsen’s farm is in Mapleton, UT.  They have 20 acres and are trying to be more self sufficient.  When you first walk down the lane you pass a large traditional garden.

We then went inside a large building they call Mapleton Manor.  This is used for many family functions, storing farm equipment and once a year for an Advanced Master Gardener/Master Gardener lab and luncheon.  Erlyn was busy preparing for the luncheon.

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Her husband Duane gave us a brief outline of what they were doing on the farm.

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He said it is in a low cold area of Mapleton so they don’t grow any fruit that has a pit.

They have 2 chicken coops and this year they have 100 baby chicks.  They were offering them free to anyone that wanted to take them home.

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They had a well drilled and at 360′ they hit water.  A column shot 200′ into the air.  They were hoping that it would turn into an artesian well, but after things settled down the water only came up 200′ into the well.  They have a pump on it that runs their irrigation system for the farm.  The rock is a fake one that covers the electrical system for the pump and the controls for the irrigation system.

For instance they irrigate their raspberries 2 hours every other day when the berries are ripening.  They have a large orchard of filbert (hazelnut) trees.  They have several apple trees.  They are also looking into growing apricot trees from Uzbekistan that are especially hardy and also said to be sweeter than the American and Western European varieties.  They may even try a cold hardy pistachio.

Duane is also proud of his asparagus.  He makes a trench 18” deep and 18” wide and then fills it with organic mulch.  He then continues to mulch it every year.  He grows millennium, purple that he likes better and Jersey Giant which he likes best of all.  He took us to the purple asparagus and broke some off to eat raw.  I was surprised how good it tasted.

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One of their specialties are raspberries, currants and gooseberries.  They like them for their antioxidant properties as well as their flavor.  They turned us loose in their patches and we gobbled down red, purple, black and yellow raspberries and blackberries.

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They also had black currents  and Invicta gooseberries to try.  Duane said that the Invicta gooseberries had to be fully ripe when picked.

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I don’t think that I had ever had a gooseberry before, but I found the flavor to my liking.  My favorite is still the blackberry. 

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Duane talked about the  Triple Crown and Chester blackberry varieties which are thornless and are floricane varieties.  This means they grow on last years canes.  The Prime Jim, Prime Jan & Prime Ark 45 are primacane varieties that grow in the current years growth and fruit in Aug-Oct.

We ate so many berries that we almost ruined our appetites for the luncheon.  While we were eating our luncheon Janet Stocks talked to us about the Cornaby family raspberry farm in Salem, UT.  They grow 20 acres of raspberries and they harvest with an automatic harvester.  They only grow primacane varieties so all the fall pruning that they have to do is to cut the canes down to the ground each year.

Erlyn provided us with a list of the red  raspberries
that Janet gave her.  Autumn Bliss:

This variety does not have as many berries as other varieties, but are great for fresh eating.  They are a rounded berry and very sweet.  They have truly big berries, but also big seeds.

Maybe this has one has the biggest berries of all the varieties grown in their raspberry farm.  Carolines: Of their 20 acres 14 are planted in Carolines. They have the smallest seeds, have the traditional raspberry flavor, are lighter in color and can be picked when they are a little greener.  These are Janet’s first choice for jam.  They are very high in antioxidants.

Heritage: A good spring bearer. This has a heavy crop.  It is a sweet berry and softer than the other.  Not as disease resistant as the fall bearers they grow.

Jacqueline: This has a long and skinny oval berry. It is very dark purple with a rich, intensely sweet flavor.  It is quite seedy but, holds up well.

Joan J.: The core of Joan J has a hook at the bottom which makes this one harder to pick than other raspberries.  It is an awesome berry and ranked very high on the antioxidant list.

Polka: This is a SHOW berry.  It is 2nd biggest of those on this farm.  It is a pretty red but, lighter in color.  They come on earlier by about 2 weeks of the other fall varieties listed here.  They have a tight skin which makes them shine and they hold their shape well.  This variety is a favorite for fresh picking and for selling at the farmers’ market. They are planting  more of this kind.  Janet puts a fondant in the cavity and then dips them in chocolate.

They don’t grow the black raspberries because they have a lot of seeds are also tricky to prune.

The ones that the Madsen’s grow are: Huron: large, glossy attractive fruit, ripens early, bred to replace “Bristoll Black” which is also early but smaller.

Munger: Most disease resistant

 

Jewel: Superior quality, excellent flavor.

The purple raspberries they grow are: Brandywine: fairly erect, large, unsurpassed for pies, jams & jellies out produces reds by 25%, place 30” apart.

Royalty: sweetest of the purple raspberries, and good for jams and jellies.

The Taylor a red/purple raspberry:  the Madsen’s think it is the best flavored of the reds/purple when really ripe, ready the first week of July.

Erlyn had the following comment on yellow raspberries, Brent Black grows 41 varieties of red raspberries (no purples or blacks) and a few varieties of yellows at his Utah State experimental station in Kaysville, UT.  Every year they have taste tests and every year the yellow Anne’s win for the best taste of the reds and yellows he is growing.

Janet had several flavors of the jams that they make.  They had a raspberry/jalapenos that she recommended trying it on the ham sandwiches we were making.  I took her up on this and it was delicious with just the right amount of kick.

Janet also told us that their farm also provides many of the raspberries for the Bear Lake Raspberry Days held each August.  Bear Lake, especially the Utah side, used to produce large crops of raspberries.  This has declined in the last few years.  This is similar to Strawberry Days in Pleasant Grove, UT where I reside.  There used to be many acres of strawberry here and the celebration was started over 100 years ago to showcase the strawberries.  Now they have to be shipped in for our celebration.  Garden City, UT on the shores of Bear Lake is also known for their famous strawberry shakes.  

There was even an article in the New York Times in 1989 about these shakes.  My wife especially likes these shakes since she is an ice cream nut.

Of course there are many more varieties of all of the blackberries, currants, gooseberries, and raspberries than were listed in this article.

“I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley…”  Song of Solomon. 6: 11

Next week:  Tips on growing and pruning

blackberries and raspberries.

Dennis Adamson - Master Gardner
adamsond@juno.com = Send Dennis any questions you may have!
For The Tamily