A beautiful Sunset over the orchard!
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A beautiful Sunset over the orchard! |
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| Chapter
4 - Who knew Covid was coming??? |
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 2020 Starts with a 3 day trade show in Abbotsford BC to view trays, packaging, harvesters, berry cleaning equipment a whole bunch of other stuff in the berry and dairy lines. |
 Had a chance to visit with some of the BC growers manning their association booth advertising the benefits of Haskaps! |
 You know you must be in fruit and vegetable country when this decorates the middle of the roundabout! |
 Even managed to squeeze in a few berry trays to get us started. Poor little Versa was packed to the roof - and then some! |
 April 23 - a few warm days made a big difference! |
 April 20 still snow in the orchard but the day the water broke open to fill the irrigation dugout on it's way to the creek!  (later) |
 Our first attempt at labels and a product test of Haskap Puree - sugar free! |
 Continuing to prune in the Saskatoon U-Pic before the leaves bud out! |
 Lots of moisture on may 8th changed the look of the landscape! |
Comparing
a few of our varieties - different shapes and sizes!  Beast  Honey Bee |
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 Murray was the planter of the poplar trees we harvested and planted in rows to replace the bales for wind protection. This helps the bees flying in to pollinate on windy spring days! |
 Bees on Berry Blue
variety.coming soon! |
 Blooms look promising for a young plant. Should provide a good harvest! |
 A rainbow over the orchard! :) |
 Remember Alex and Erin from Pointe Tango? Alex had a stamp made with a photo he took while visiting our orchard! Nice job!! Yes it's a real Canadian stamp! |
 This particular Saskatoon bush is thriving even though it was only planted last year! |
 And the Chokecherries are blooming well! |
 Pretty sunset looking back from the orchard! |
 June 10th view from top of bins! |
 June 13 we found the momma killdeers nest before mowing over it - marked with stakes! |
 Using the tractor to plant fence posts to hold wire to drape netting over. |
 We think we found our pot of Haskaps at the end of this rainbow!! |
 I hope this hawk sticks around as there will be many tasty meals for it when the birds show up in force to eat all the delicious berries! |
 A panoramic shot of the rainbow! |
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 Posts visible and some rows netted against the birds... |
 Plants are bigger now so need 2 widths of netting that we had to join together - another painful job! |
 Getting hard when a Cedar Waxwing wont drop the darn Haskap berry even when you have it in your hands!! They have good taste! He was stuck in the netting and didn't object (much) to posing for a quick pic! I'm not that fast ;-) |
 Raeanne joining the netting together!! |
 Many rows netted for bird protection! |
 July 9th and starting to ripen! |
 Starting to experiment with consistencies and recipes for Haskap Pie Filling and Sundae Topping. Great for pies and tarts, ice cream and Cheesecake. No cooking necessary! |
 No words necessary!! Seconds? |
 Our new to us berry harvester - now if the bushes would just grow taller so we could use it - came with our delivery of a seacan full of berry trays! |
 Packed full of berry trays should keep us going for a while!! And some for sale! |
 July 18th thought we'd give it an inaugural run on our biggest Indigo Gems -- we didn't need a full compliment of workers for the quantity of berries though! Races along at a half a mile an hour! |
 First trial run with a rookie driver!! |
 An inside view of the berries coming! |
 Pretty with the yellow canola blooming in the background! |
 A three year old Haskap looking good! Too many dang berries on the ground! |
 Manually harvesting our shorter rows one bush at a time! |
 Perhaps a wren's nest with eggs in it!! Wildlife loves the orchard! |
 July 24 - wont need to water this week!!! |
 An impressive branch of beautiful blizzard!! |
 Lots of wind damage makes you want to cry! :-( |
 Makes you wonder what''s coming! |
 First you put the netting on - then you have to take it off and roll it up! Time consuming! |
 July 29th at 2:16 am - making 6 batches of jam after coming in from the orchard at 10 pm to get ready for the next days farmers market! The start of adding jam to the list of products!! it wasn't planned this way! =-O |
 Made first pies to take to the Melfort Farmers Market as well! Tarts too!! Silly girl! :-[ |
 The pies weren't cooked yet at 12:49 am but they were ready for the next day's Farmers Market! |
 Aug 2nd finds some trays of Haskaps building up in the freezer - not cleaned yet! |
 Aug 7th continuing to harvest. It takes two people when the plants are this tall! |
 Dark clouds looming and it smells like rain! |
 A panoramic view of the same cloud - coming fast! |
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 Ten minutes later - head for cover! |
 Aug. 9th on the new Saskatoons made them look good because the acre of U-Pic had no berries due to an early frost! |
 We also sell Rhubarb fresh and frozen! |
 Harvester video 23 Seconds a different view! |
 Don't remember what came out of this Aug. 12th cloud! |
 Aug. 16 well named Beauty variety!! |
 Aug 16 - filling freezer up fast! |
 Berries rolling off the harvester conveyor! |
 Aug. 19 found Raeanne and Murray harvesting! |
 A year later - Rascal the kitten has grown up but still keeping me company in the raspberry patch! |
 Mother Nature gives us many beautiful sights if you take the time to enjoy them! |
 The quad does a lot of miles every year as the main transportation in the orchard! |
 Then the chokecherries are ready too! Always something! |
 Sept 24 with my farmer hat on after the berry harvest has come to a close. Raeanne in the combine, Murray in the truck! coming soon |
 Somebody got very creative making cupcakes for a birthday celebrated at Flatlands Paintball! |
 More delicious treats! |
 Video of geese taking off over paintball fields! coming soon |
 Previous farm video was straight cutting cereals - this one is using pick up header combining canola! coming soon |
 Looks like the field is on fire but just a fiery sunset! |
 What the heck is coming??? |
 Moving fast! |
 Over us now! |
 Wow a total of 21 minutes and we got hit! What a storm! |
 Oct 22 - delivery of 3 pallets of jars! Getting serious about production! |
 More jars and pails! |
 Some get handled better than others! |
 Even bigger batches now of Apple Jelly in our new jars! |
 And now raspberry....... |
 And Chokecherry too! Both jelly and syrup! |
 Two days later on Nov. 20th an even bigger batch of Haskap Jam. Inventory for the many Christmas sales season and trade/craft shows!! |
 And again after 11 P.M. on Nov. 21st. Busy times! |
 Nov. 27 at the Gronlid craft show! |
 First week of Dec. a 3 day show in the Melfort Mall! |
 Oct. 29 and many hours of work to do caning the raspberries ready for next season! |
 Nov. 19 shows the new Puree labels we designed and Murray made look so beautiful! |
 And a look at our line of products available from the farm, the many merchants now carrying them or at the many craft shows! |
 Nov 21st and the orchard is ready for a long winter's sleep! |
 Nov 29th at 2:39 A.M. - the orchard sleeps but I do not! Production still happening! |
 Now we are adding the frozen Haskaps in a stand up resealable one or 2 pound pouch! Looks much more professional! Admire those labels! |
 Dec. 10th first Haskap Puree in new bottles! |
 Dec. 12th moved to a new location! Caught in the act! |
 Dec. 30th shows increasing need for more Puree! And finally we are drawing another extremely busy year to a close! Good to finish it off peacefully! See you next year - have a good one! |
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How
to find us! |
 Renouf Farms, Melfort, Saskatchewan. |
| Copyright (c) 2016 Flatlands Paintball and (c) 2021 Renouf Farms Ltd Melfort SK 306-921-8265 |