Daily Newsletters
Account
Washington Evening Journal
111 North Marion Avenue
Washington, IA 52353
319-653-2191
Aronia Berries thrive despite dry conditions
Bain Estates says they’ll have plenty of berries come picking season
WAYLAND — Despite multiple years of drought-like conditions, Bain Estates finds growing the Indigenous Aronia berries continue to thrive.
Recently many You-Pick farms such as Blueberry Bottom in Brighton found their crops would not produce enough berries for the season due to these dry conditions, but Bain Estates grower Marlene Bain-Pelster says she has not experienced the same predicament.
“We've had a severe drought last year and this year, yet the [Aronia] berries are doing pretty well,” Bain-Pelster explained. “I think the difference is they're native to this area and they’ve gotten a deep root system.”
According to the Iowa State Extension Office, “Aronia berries are not new to Iowa; they are actually Indigenous to the state and were used by the Potawatomi Native Americans to cure colds.”
Bain Estates brochure describes the crop as Aronia “a shrub native to North America with fruit that appears similar to blueberries,” though they taste drastically different.
“These have a very very dry kind of a tart flavor and very few people like them to eat them alone,” Bain-Pelster said. “If you try them, you'll get kind of a dry sensation in the back of your mouth. It's kind of grassy-like.”
According to research published in the 2021 Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, these tiny dark colored berries contain one of the highest antioxidant values ever recorded for fruits, superseding blueberries, elderberries, acai berries and goji berries.
It is thanks to these benefits that Bain Estates even established their Aronia crop in 2011, though they did not begin their You-Pick style until recently.
Bain-Pelster grew up on this farm located between Washington and Wayland with her 10 siblings where her parents Ralph and Frances Bain raised hogs and dairy cattle and grew corn and soybeans.
She later went to Iowa State University where she obtained a degree in Horticulture and moved to the Chicago area for work.
When she had son, however, she learned he had severe autism.
“I used to go to AutismOne conferences, and I met a man there named Kenny Saylor, who was in Nebraska and he was promoting Aronia berries there,” Bain-Pelster explained.
She said this is when she first learned about all the benefits of Aronia berries and hoped they would benefit her son.
She didn’t immediately jump into growing her own Aronia berries, however. First she simply bought them, but in 2005 an opportunity arose when her parents left the family farm to the group of siblings.
“So we were deciding what to do with the farm and I had gone to that conference and found out about the berries and I said, well, and I researched it and saw that a lot of farmers were starting to plan to grow these, why don’t we try this?” Bain-Pelster explained.
So, the siblings took a vote and agreed.
According to Bain-Pelster, the siblings all worked together to plant the shrubs that now cover approximately a quarter of an acre.
The rows of Aronia Berry Shrubs line up right next to other Indigenous grasses planted by their father to create habitat and protect soil and water quality as part of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Conservation Reserve Program (CRP).
While Bain-Pelster attributes much of the success of the Aronia Berries to the fact that they are native to the region, but she also thinks their practices of continuing those CRP grasses, using natural pesticides like Milky Spore, and consistent pruning.
With such labor-intensive care with pruning, weeding, addressing pests, picking, cleaning, and bagging the crop, however, the Bain Estates sibling group decided to move to the You-Pick Farm style three years ago.
“They’re very easy to pick,” said. “The worst thing will be is you will get some purple fingers, but that washes off.”
After picking, says many choose to freeze their berries and use them throughout the year.
“It only takes 30 berries a day to see the health benefits,” she said.
So, she chooses to consume her berries raw, for the most health benefits, by adding frozen berries to soups, water, smoothies, frostings, and oatmeal.
“some people mix them in salsa and you can't even taste it but yet you're eating them raw and you're getting the health benefits that way,” she said.
Contrary to what Bain-Pelster originally heard about the berries being some sort of “miracle berry,” she says they are really only one part of adding healthy choices to your life.
“Like everything, it's just one part,” she said. “You know, it has to be a whole lifestyle change. And you gotta eat right on your other stuff too, and exercise, but it's a good addition to have.”
Bain-Pelster encourages interested individuals to follow their Facebook page Bain Estates Aronia Berries to stay in the loop for when picking season begins, but anticipates the berries should be ready around the end August.
Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com
