Down to Earth Garden Club

I've been trying to get a little bit of 'pre-publicity' for our up and coming organic farm. We are opening next season with small ammounts of fruits for u-pick sales to the public. I would like to let you all know a little bit about what we have and what our goals are on this post.

We are working with the Elk County Planning Commission to try to expand faster so we can make all this a reality. Our main crop is blueberries of course, mmmmmmmmmmm! But we are also growing:
Elderberries, Johnkier-Van-Tett Currants, Jostaberries, Raspberries, Blackberries, Seedless grapes of 3 varieties, Patten Pears, Bartlett Pears, Honeygold Apples, Yellow Delicious, Red Delicious, and Banana Apples, Two types of Plums, Nanking and Hansen Cherry Bushes, Sugar Sweet Cherries, Montmorency Cherries, Georgia Peaches, Almonds, Butternuts, Chestnuts, Walnuts, Hickory Nuts, Persimons, and we will be adding more to come. We are looking into some arctic kiwi and some Pennsylvania Pawpaw's.

It's very exciting for us, we are using mushroom compost aged 2 years, mulch mixed with peat moss and pine bark on the blueberries and mulch with blood meal on everything else. I am looking into some different types of organic foods that have nitrogen and sulfur combinations.

One of the biggest problems we have right now is that when we acquired some of our land, we also acquired some apple trees that need some serious attention. One is near death and we would like to save it. It has the best apples on earth. Right now it has many suckers coming from the base of the tree, but I am afraid to touch it because it is rotten all down through the center and I feel that it is too far gone for me to save alone.

I would love for anyone to give us a visit and an opinion or two. We are hoping in the future to build out to 7,000 blueberry bushes and work with the WIC program and let farmers come in for free to set up their tables to sell their vegetables on certain weekends. Also we will be selling our berries cheaper to people with cancer and heart issues because of the added health benefits. When things get going really well, we will be hoping to work with local high schools in their school to work programs. And also we are hoping to get a small building up for an all natural organic milk shake stand.

We are all about family and want something that will help our community grow stronger in every way. We hope that this dream is fullfilled within the next five years. Right now we can get our blueberry bushes full sized 5ft tall bearing 8lbs per bush for $40.00 a piece. We are looking for funding through any resource we can find because we still need to acquire 10 more acres of land next to us, a tractor and fencing, oh yeah and of course the bushes! LOL

All in all the total budget for this project is looking to be around $300,000.00 I realize that it is a pretty big chunk of change. But for a future so bright for the community, I feel that it is money well spent.

Any comments or avenues we can go down is greatly appreciated. We can use all the help we can get on this project. I've been searching feverishly. We are dream chasers to the end!!

Mary Pat and Jason Luchini
The Berry Patch
1822 Old Byrnedale Rd
Weedville, PA 15868
814-335-9009

Feel free to call and come see what we have going so far!

Hi Mary Pat,
Welcome to the forum! We are delighted to have you here. This is a new endeavor for us, as well.
Please check your PM's perhaps there are a few of our members you should know if you don't know therm already. Good luck with the farm!

I was wondering if you have considered using sawdust on the blueberries? It has the advantage of being free. I know it uses up nitrogen from the soil as it decomposes but we compensate for that by tossing on some extra nitrogen as it goes down. Or use composted sawdust. It doesn't take long with a big pile. I wouldn't think that blueberries are very heavy feeders as the wild ones grow on the worst possible soil around here.

I have two female and one male kiwis that grow extremely well. One of them bloomed only once but I have never had any fruit. Probably they don't get enough sun. My usual problem.

Paw Paws sound interesting. I actually had some small trees that I grew from seed once but they did not do well in the greenhouse and I didn't think they would survive our winters. Keep us posted on that one.

I don't know if you are originally from this area or not but one of the major problems that we have had with our fruit trees is late frosts and pollination. The frosts frequently get the flowers and heavy rains in the spring can keep the blossoms from being pollinated. At least this is what the old folks tell me is happening. We are however at the foot of a hill so we do tend to be a bit colder that other sections.

We use mixed mulch that we get for free from local sawmills. It works very well. We also use peatmoss and bloodmeal. I am getting an organic nitrogen compound to try this year that you use in three applications. I hope that it goes well.
As for the kiwis, they can take up to 7 years before you will see any fruit, so patience is key. But 1 male plant can polinate up to 7 plants so put a few more in the ground. If you are seeing flowers HURRAY!! Great sign! Let me know if they are tastey! I can't wait to see if anyone is having success with them!

Come on over and have a look sometime! We are still trying to work with some agencies on some grants or maybe even low interest ag loans to get us moving faster. It's such an exciting project. I just hate the waiting game. I know all our hard work will pay off some day though. I'm just praying that our children will take up our interest and carry on the tradition once we're too old to keep up with it all! LOL ;)

My kiwis had a big set back a few years ago. They were growing up a large maple tree that came down in a high wind bringing the kiwis with it. I haven't seen any blossoms since and I suspect those first ones were from either a male or single female plant as I never got any fruit. I keep hoping. The vines from this particular variety are extremely robust and difficult to handle.

That's terribe when that stuff happens. I'm always afraid that we are going to have set backs from the Elk or the weather, but you will see fruit.  I can bet you lost the female as the male doesn't fruit it is just there as a pollinater. I do have a website to get more plants if you need it.

As long as they keep comming back you know they like the spot you chose for them. I haven't done a whole lot of research on them as far as the PH of the soil they like and such, but I'm sure you'll do well with them. I have found that a good strong section of chainlink fence makes a great trellis for vine plants like grapes and such. It let's them take right off. It will however make pruning tricky if you're not right on top of it. So even maybe a 4 ft section of chainlink would give you a nice strong section for them to climb if you could get one maybe 6 or 8 ft high. I know tru-value stores carry them and it shouldn't be to hard to put up.

I really need a trellis and probably some systematic pruning. They are a bit much for me to handle. I planted them where there is an underground spring and they seem to like the extra water. I fear that they do not get enough sun though. With all of the surrounding trees there are few spots that get a full day of sun.