Moving from 3,000 acres of grain to 10 acres of berries may seem like a step down in the world of agricultural production, but not to Marvin Hrudey.
“I really enjoy what I’m doing,” says the producer from Andrew, Alta.
“It keeps me physically active and outdoors part of the time, and out in the markets meeting people part of the time.”
What started as a hobby seven years ago with an experimental plot to “see what we could grow in this area” has turned into Emjay’s Prairie Berries.
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Hrudey and his wife, Judy, grow unusual berries, make preserves and baking to sell, and travel to farmers’ markets in northeastern Alberta.
Every weekend they are somewhere between Bonnyville and Camrose or Fort Saskatchewan and Boyle, all within an hour’s drive of their home.
Hrudey called it semi-retirement, although he joked, “it’s really just a way to make work for yourself.”
Hrudey used to farm with his brother, cropping up to 3,000 acres.
“Then it dropped to eight quarters and that dwindled to 500 acres, and there was just no money in it.”
So he retired from grain production three years ago.
However, by then he was well into his berry orchard, “showing the public there is an alternative to B.C. fruit.”
He researched fruit online and found the perfect area of his farm to try growing haskap, white chokecherries, sea buckthorn, white raspberries and buffalo berries, along with more traditional crops such as saskatoons, cranberries, black chokecherries, Evans sour cherries and Saskatchewan tart cherries.
“From what I’ve read, I believe you could make $10,000 an acre at this,” he said.
Hrudey had one patch of land where the grain would always lodge.
“All the moisture from the yard, like from melting snow, goes down there,” he said.
So that became his orchard.
“The plants seem to like it there.”
He has planted lawn grass between the trees and rows of berries for cleaner picking, comfort and overall appearance.
His wife works as a school secretary, but in the evenings and on her days off they are in the kitchen or at a market.
Besides making preserves, jellies and jams, she also bakes cinnamon buns, breads, pies, cakes and muffins, all with “only berries,” Hrudey said.
On baking day, it’s “be around, but don’t open your mouth,” he added with a laugh.
Because they want everything fresh, they will be up at 4 a.m. to get the baking done and make it to a market when it opens.
“We do it all ourselves, although the kids help if they’re around,” he said about their three grown children.
By the time Judy is out of school for the summer, the busy season is underway.
The haskaps are blooming before the snow is off the ground.
“What I like about the haskaps is they are so quick,” Hrudey said.
“They even beat the strawberries. After a long winter, everyone wants a fresh berry in the spring.”
Even this year, when spring was late in coming, the Hrudeys started picking haskaps in the third week of June. All their berry picking is by hand.
Hrudey calls haskap a “love ’em or leave ’em” berry – delicious to people who like a tart taste.
“They are so early they don’t have enough time to develop much sugar,” he said.
Hrudey got into haskap production almost by accident after reading an article on the blue honeysuckle, the forerunner of the haskap.
He called the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon and was put in touch with an expert on the fruit.
The white chokecherry tastes similar to the black chokecherry, but is not quite as bitter. The white raspberry, which is actually yellow, is like a red raspberry but sweeter. Hrudey said both berries make an attractive, slightly pink, jelly or jam. Buffalo berries also make an attractive preserve because of their red colour.
The Hrudeys have found these alternative crops are beginning to catch on with the public.
“We don’t have any home economists in Alberta anymore so we are developing new jams and preserves and baking products on our own,” he said.
