North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Jim Fruth <jfruth@uslink.net>]

Rivka,
    I grow my plants on black landscape fabric cutting 3" holes in
equilateral triangles spaced 2 ft. apart.  With that spacing, the plants
hold each other upright. 4 ft. wide fabric works better than 3 ft wide
because it accommodates 3 rows of plants and they stand up better.  Once per
week we scoop up everything that has fallen, sort it tossing the dried
leaves, putting the green husked berries on the shelf to ripen further and
removing the husk from the dried and white berries.  Actually, we wait until
we have a half bushel, or more, before we do the husking.
    We do not sell any ground cherries for fresh markets; all we grow goes
into jam and we sell all we produce.
    We used to sell them in pint boxes and other farmers still do at various
farmers' markets.  Here in North Central Minnesota they sell briskly some as
a curiosity and most out of nostalgia.  Most are sold to tourists.  We used
to sell a heaping box full for $2.00 and I have seen leveled-off boxes of
them sell for up to $3.00.
-- 

Jim Fruth
Brambleberry Farm
Pequot Lakes, MN
www.bberryfarm.com
Jams, Jellies and Syrups
(218)568-8483 [Store]
(218)831-7018 [My cell]