Market Farming

[Robert Farr - The Chile Man <rbfarr AT erols.com>]

And elderberries are easy to grow, too - I've been growing them for years (mixed w/ gooseberries and a touch of Habanero, they appear in one of my marinades, Respect Your Elderberries)!

Elderberries spread like crazy - that one plant will be multiple plants w/in two or three years.  And they tend to seed pretty freely, too.

I can attest to the medicinal value.  Mixed w/ brandy (I do it in Ball jars) and succussed, then set aside for a month or two, they are, in fact, anti-viral.  We take a small snifter anytime we feel a flu coming on.

They also keep quite well in the fridge or the freezer.

I haven't gotten around to making an elderberry jam yet.  But this year, I have hundreds of pounds to harvest (started harvesting this week).  Boy, do they take a long time to pick from the stems!!!  I spend about three hours picking four pounds of berries.

Does anyone out there have a jam recipe to share?

BTW, plants are available from Millers in upstate New York - tho' I'm looking for another source (I'd like to plant different varieties.  Canadensis is the "American" strain.).  Any other sources?

OakCamp2 AT aol.com wrote:

They can also be sold for medicinal purposes.  They can be soaked in (blackberry-yum!)brandy and used as a flu tonic as elderberries are antiviral and anti-inflammatory.  Great as a jelly, too.

Flowers of elder can also be harvested for the same reason.

The entire peduncle of both should be harvested, the flowers in early summer and the ripe and juicy fruits in the fall or late summer. 

Flowers sell for $9 to $15/ lb  

Fruit sells for $9 to $10/ lb

Sambucus nigra or S. canadensis are the preferred varieties

S. pubens (with red berries) should not be grown for medicine as it is poisonous.

 

It is against the law to peddle any food items as a medicine, but you can use 2ndary literature to display at your farm stand and let the customers spend time reading about the preparation and use of the elderberries.

All you need to do is google elderberry as medicine and you can produce 100s of articles to print and display at your stand.  Let the customer make up their mind about the actual use and eating of the berries.

HTH

Barb Birkinbine

Oak Camp Herb Farm, LLC

Lodi WI

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