Last week we started to harvest our German sea buckthorn varieties. The emphasis at Devereux farm has been to focus on growing the thornless, sweeter Siberian varieties, but the initial orchard started with 180 mixed German and Finnish plants represented by nine female varieties. The eccentric weather has impacted on these plants by later ripening. Varieties normally harvested in July are up to four weeks late in ripening. Berry size is good and it will be interesting to see how they analyse.
Having had a long hot summer nutritional analysis may see better than average concentrations of key nutrients but with 190 to choose from which are the most relevant. There are key vitamins of A, B, C and E; omega 3,6,7,9 fatty acids; phyto-sterols; and myriad polyphenols. But if we analyse what do we need? Single headline nutrients are not the reason why any fruit provides health benefit. It is the synergy of the total mix of nutrients that is important. The interaction between nutrients contributes to the nutrient driven health package that contributes to the make-up of balanced diet.
As a farmer I want to grow a quality crop. Analysis will indicate whether growing methods are creating consistent quality. Research indicates that as fruit ripens so does the concentration of individual nutrients within it. Some increase, some decrease but this will be influenced by variety and weather making management difficult if one is looking to grow a consistent quality berry. The old adage of eating an apple a day cuts some truth here. It is not the fact that you eat a natural ingredient, but the fact that you eat it regularly and often building up the supply of fresh natural nutrients for your body. If fruit quality is down in a particular year it matters less if you carry on eating it day in, day out regardless.
One quirk in this year’s harvest is that some German varieties – habego in particular are ripening consistently on the north side of plants, but the berries on the south side are yellow on the top exposed to the sun, and orange underneath. Is this a form of bleaching, or lack of ripening? Brix measurements on all berries are around 8, much lower than the figures for Siberian varieties which when ripe are between 12 and 14.
We have started harvest on some nine year old habego plants, some of which will not have been harvested last year. The first of these plants yielded 27kg gross – including the weight of the branches. We are trimming off leaf and cutting berry bearing sections of branch approx. 40-50cm long, so the wood content is small, so this yield is impressive.
The berry separator machine has been put through its paces and has worked well in its primary task of removing berry and leaf from branches. Like all prototypes the best way of testing a design is to use it, and then work out how to perfect it. We still need to improve the flow and channelling of leaf after it has been removed. The operation can be messy and within a food processing environment, spillage of waste leaf is undesirable. When it takes so little time to remove the berries by machine, it is frustrating to spend so much time clearing up after the job. This will be sorted for next year – it is another part of the development process.
So that is progress on the sea buckthorn. This all comes at a time when the rest of the farm has also been busy with the arable harvest being cut. Over this summer we have also been a partner in building a 250m sea wall to protect a neighbouring Anglian Water treatment works. The final job of the engineers involved on the wall was also to dig some scrapes in two fields to improve our local habitat for breeding birds and waders. It certainly has been a year to remember.
