North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Jerry Lehman <jwlehmantree@gmail.com>]

*NAFEX ANNUAL MEETING 2015*
Bob Purvis, Pete Scott and Jerry Lehman
Your 2015 Annual Meeting Committee

Bob Purvis and Pete Scott have been working hard to line up interesting 
and informative speakers. Here are a few; Liza Greenman, Fruit Exploring 
for Millennials; Nick Howard, Fruit Breeding for the Backyard Grower; 
Jim Riddle, owner and operator of Blue Fruit Farm speaking on culture 
and marketing of blueberries, elderberries, blackcurrant and aronia; Dan 
Busey, Saving Heirloom Seeds; Dell Christianson, Foliar Nutrition for 
Fruit Trees; Jacquelyn Kuehn, The Future of NAFEX; Harry Hoch, owner 
Hoch Orchards, Operating a Farm Fruit Market; Ron Dickie, Cultivating 
and Marketing Strawberries; Paul Bingham, Accessing the ARS (USDA) 
Germplasm Repository and Obtaining Materials and Designing Edible 
Landscapes; Brian Nelson, Spotted Wing Drosophila; Oriana Kruszewski, 
Asian Pears for the Upper Midwest; Bob Purvis, Growing Apricots in the 
Cold North.

Contact Bob Purvis or Pete Scott to make arrangements for your 
presentation. Better hurry as the roster is nearly full and there may be 
some openings due to cancellations. If we have extra presentations we 
may continue at 7:00 PM. The auction is also planned for Thursday evening.

The Friday bus tour presently has 5 stops scheduled. This will be a 
full, interesting day.

We began the day with a visit to Ron’s Barry Farm in Minnesota operated 
by Ron and Peggy Dickie where they cultivate strawberries and asparagus.

Another stop is the Blue Fruit Farm where they have 4 acres of aronia, 
blackcurrant, blueberry and elderberries. Owner Jim Riddle will also 
address us during the technical sessions.

Lunch is planned for the Hoch Apple Orchard catered by the Harry Hoch 
family who operate the orchard, farm market and kitchen.

After lunch we travel to Ecker’s Apple Orchard where  they grow Cortland 
and Honey Crisp and sell caramel apples and apple pie in their farm market.

We plan to also visit Blue House Blueberries, primarily a you pick 
operation. Owner Steve Nice will give us a tour of their orchard where 
they cultivate and market blueberries, blue ice plums, honeyberry 
(haskap) and aronia.

We will return at 5 PM for a short rest before the start of the banquet 
and wine tasting. Have a fruit wine that you are proud of? Bring a few 
bottles to impress fellow members. Do you have favorite a wine made by a 
local winery, ask them to donate a few bottles for the publicity. There 
will also be a cash bar prior to the banquet. Our scheduled speaker is 
Steven Murray who has traveled extensively in China, a very 
knowledgeable young man well-versed on foreign fruits. At last year’s 
annual meeting Steven made a short presentation of fruits that he 
observed and photographed. He has promised to give more details about 
many of the interesting fruits. Following the banquet will be the annual 
business meeting and election of officers.

A car caravan trip to Seed Savers Exchange near Decorah, Iowa is being 
planned for Saturday, July 25.

The conference center has bent the rules for us not only in allowing 
wine tasting before the banquet they are also going to allow us to serve 
homemade cookies that include fruit and nuts at Thursdays coffee breaks. 
We will also have a limited a number of pastries at the breaks from the 
Inn’s catering service.

While you’re in LaCrosse Wisconsin you can also plan to attend the 
Northern Nut Growers Annual Meeting July 26 through 28. See their 
website, nutgrowing.org.