08/25/2026
‼️Elderberry crop report 2026‼️
(LONG READ, BUT ALOT TO EXPLAIN)
While we always have and will continue to only treat our elderberries organically, the world we live in is not so accommodating. As our customers know, we are surrounded by commercial farmland. While it is extremely frustrating, we really can't get mad at the farmers, because when we purchased this property almost 10 years ago, we fully understood that they are not organic. However, up until last year, we have had great yields. What changed last year? The farmers have always alternated corn and soy beans. Last year was the 1st year since weve lived here that the farmer planted corn 2 years in a row. Last year we had about 1/2 the yeild of previous years.We just chalked it up to an off year. This year, corn again!
3 years in a row. In June me and the hubs were taking a walk through the elderberry orchard, the plants were growing and the leaves looked green and healthy. But we noticed was that there were no elderflowers to be seen. No elderflower, no elderberries. At first we thought, they were just alittle behind this year, nature is sometimes that way. We went on vacation for a week, when we came back, we walked the orchard again, we noticed still no flowers. We did our own research and became concerned our elderberries were suffering from chemical drift. We called MDARD and they sent out an investigator. I met with him in early July and he took several samples, soil, leaves, stems from all of the rows. I also gave him pictures of our previous years at the same time of the year to show how beautiful and healthy our berries should look. The investigator contacted the farmer who reported to him what commercial products were used and on what dates. I was told it would take up to 2 months to get lab results. So we waited. The investigator called me last week and let me know that he got the lab results back on 3 of the 4 active ingredients....He informed me that there was no chemical detected. They are still waiting on the lab results on 1 active ingredient, they had to send for that test to a different lab...so we continue to wait...
Between some lengthy talks with the MDARD investigator and doing our own research. We have come to the conclusion that our elderberries are suffering from too much nitrogen. Corn is a heavy nitrogen feeder. What we believe has happened to our beautiful elderberry rows is that they got stunted from way too much nitrogen. They have done their best to recover though. Less than 1/2 of our plants began to grow flowers and now clusters of berries. While they may not have a detectable about of chemicals, they are very much struggling to catch up after being severely stunted from the nitrogen. By this time of year we are beginning our harvest. At this point we're hoping to get them ripened up before the 1st frost. I've cried, I've gotten pi**ed off. I'm a realist, at this point, I'm just hoping we're able to harvest enough to make syrup and kits. So, there it is...hopefully we are able to harvest beautiful berries this year. Its still a waiting game.
The plan is, only syrup and kits.
I'll update as I get more info.
Ps, if we get the results back and the last lab results detect any chemical, we won't use our berries at all. We pride ourselves on providing a healthy product to our community.
💜Please send positive thoughts our way.💜
🐈⬛ Gypsymadekitchen 🐈⬛
