It is hard to believe another school year has ended and currant harvest is less than a week away.  I intend to begin harvest on July 13. The rains have been perfectly timed and the late spring frost did very little damage.  The crop at this point looks promising and sizeable.

When we started black currants about 14 years ago I really struggled selling the fruit. I tried selling fresh currants through the Toronto Food Terminal and learned that fresh currants are not in high demand. I tried to get some fresh product into Sobey’s but ran into some labelling and UPC difficulties. Ultimately I would freeze up each season’s remaining fruit and market the frozen fruit through various avenues. Some years I would keep the frozen berries until late winter or early spring.

The early years were definitely a learning curve or better yet a learning vertical wall. However we have developed a number of relationships with various wineries, processors and loyal customers. Now 15 years later my production has dropped somewhat due to rejuvenating 2/3 of out patch but the demand or inquiry about black currants has grown immensely. I can’t even fulfil 20% of local demand for currants. As I tell everyone asking if I would have enough currants for this year “I’ll let you know after harvest…”

Harvest begins July 13 and product should be available after July 18.

As always it is self-serve in the retail building on the farm.