Wrenshall News: Honeyberries hit market

Local Wrenshall farmer Jason Amundson describes the taste of the honeyberry as what would happen if a blueberry fell in love with a pack of SweeTARTS: some are sweet, some are sour, some are tart, and they are all ripening faster than they ever have before.

"In 2019 we knew reliably that we could count on the berries to be ripe on the Fourth of July," he said. "Last year we opened for picking on June 30. This year it was June 25. It's terrifying."

I spoke to Jason and his wife and farming partner, Lucie, by phone while they were hiding out in the barn during our much-needed rain shower last week.

Lucie shared in Jason's unease about the unreliable weather farmers have been facing. "We've been doing a lot of watering by headlights trying to keep things going."

"It's like we're firefighters," Jason said. "We had so much heat in May and June, and then it's been so dry."

Despite the conditions, and because of the couple's attentive care, the plants have been productive, and interest in the fruit is high. "We have different varieties of plants, so we have successive waves of ripening," Jason said. "We can usually pick for about two to two-and-a-half weeks."

Picking started last Friday. The farmers rely on both picking by hand as well as what Jason describes as a semi-mechanical harvester. From his description of the device, it sounds more like a mad-scientist farmer invented a robot out of leftover scrap metal and car parts from the back of the garage. The aluminum apparatus has wings that slide under the plant; then, forks attached to an adapted Sawzall shake the plant to release the berries into a basin made from a kiddie pool. The contraption was designed by a Canadian honeyberry grower with a lot of homegrown ingenuity.

The fruit captured by the as-yet-unnamed fruit droid is sold to local breweries as well as a distributor who sells the berries through local groceries. You'll be able to sample the fruit in drink-form through county and Duluth breweries and cideries. The farm also partners with Duluth's Love Creamery for a honeyberry ice cream.

You can check out picking days and times at the farm website, farmlola.com. And if you are extra nice, I bet you could even take a selfie with the honeyberry harvester.

Remember that Brickyard Days planning meetings are going on throughout July. If you want to help make this year's Aug. 7 event a great one, stop by Bricks Pub & Grub on July 8 and 22 at 6:30 p.m.

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