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That’s no blueberry

County conference promotes the haskap berry
0506 HaskapDay sup
BERRIES, BLUE – About 30 Alberta farmers will be in Sturgeon County Saturday for a conference on haskap berries. The fruits, shown here, resemble elongated blueberries and are renowned for their taste and high nutrient content. HASKAP ALBERTA/Photo

Alberta farmers will converge on a farm just south of Morinville Saturday to check out Canada’s newest super-fruit: the haskap.

About 30 farmers will be at the farm of Shauna Bokenfohr just south of Morinville this June 8 for the second annual Haskap Growers Day conference. Organized by the Haskap Alberta Association, the conference is meant to help growers network and learn how they can grow more of this unusual crop.

Bokenfohr is the association’s treasurer and one of maybe three people in Sturgeon that grows haskaps.

Also known as honeyberry, blue-berried honeysuckle, or Lonicera caerulea, the haskap is a relatively new crop in Canada popularized by the efforts of Bob Bors of the University of Saskatchewan's Fruit Program. Found throughout Canada, Russia and Japan, the haskap plant is a perennial shrub that grows about two metres tall and produces yellow, tubular flowers each May. Those flowers become long, dark blue, rectangular berries by late June.

“It looks like an elongated blueberry, and it tastes like a blueberry/raspberry with a little bit of a saskatoon zing,” Bokenfohr said.

Bokenfohr said haskaps are something of a super-fruit, as they are loaded with antioxidants and flavonoids and in many cases contain more vitamins and nutrients per gram than pomegranates, blueberries, oranges, grapes or apples.

“The haskap beer is awesome,” she said, adding that the berries are also delicious fresh or in jam, jellies, and cheesecake.

Bokenfohr said haskaps are still pretty rare in Alberta but more common in Quebec and Nova Scotia. She pitched them as a plant with potential and a great way to diversify your farm, as they have few pests besides birds and can handle Alberta’s cold winters.

Berry talkers

This Saturday’s meet-up will feature several guest speakers meant to help haskap growers get more out of their crops.

Craig Toth of the Edmonton District Beekeepers Association has several beehives stationed at Bokenfohr’s farm and will talk about the bee-haskap connection.

Haskaps don’t self-pollinate, and plants of one variety won’t fruit unless they get pollen from another, Toth said. Bees provide that pollination, and the more you have on your farm, the more productive your trees.

Farmers can attract bees by planting other flowering crops (such as clover) between their haskaps to ensure the bees have a steady food supply, hosting honeybee hives, and building bee hotels, Toth said.

Soil educator Joel Williams will speak on the importance of healthy soils for haskaps.

Haskap plants that have to fight pests aren’t able to pack as many delicious nutrients into their berries, Williams said. If you fertilize with compost, avoid pesticides and plant a variety of cover crops, you can draw more pest-eating predators to your plot and more micro-organisms to your soil.

“Those microbes are the bridge between the soil and the plant,” he said, and the healthier they are, the more nutrients your haskaps can get.

Tickets to the conference are $120, or $60 for Haskap Alberta members. Email Bokenfohr at [email protected] for details.


Kevin Ma

About the Author: Kevin Ma

Kevin Ma joined the St. Albert Gazette in 2006. He writes about Sturgeon County, education, the environment, agriculture, science and aboriginal affairs. He also contributes features, photographs and video.
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