Blueberry season in British Columbia is a little late this year because of our cool spring, but it is now in full swing. BC blueberry farmers produce around 90 million pounds a year. While many of those go into typical processed blueberry products such as juices and jams, I found a different blueberry product to talk about today on Island Artisans.
Some folks in the know told me that just outside of Courtenay I would find Nature’s Way Farm, a certified organic farm that specializes in blueberries, strawberries and salad greens. Of course this time of year the blueberry bushes are loaded with fruit, and I strolled through the rows with owners George Ehrler and Marla Limousin. Marla told me we were standing in what used to be a swamp. But 20 years ago the swamp was drained and blueberries were planted, all kinds of different varieties, but they all love the acidic, well-drained soil.
I have to admit I became just a little jealous, since I have just 6 tiny bushes at home in my garden right now, and at Nature’s Way all these bushes were just loaded down with ripe blueberries, and it was so fun to go from different varieties, taste sampling all the way along.
While the bushes are twenty years old, George and Marla are relative newcomers to this business of blueberries. George is an engineer by trade, Marla a landscape architect. They used to live on Salt Spring Island and work quite often in the high Arctic, but with their kids growing up they found themselves coming to Vancouver Island a lot, so George was originally looking to buy a condo at Mount Washington. Those plans went somewhat sideways.
George was trying to get real estate agents to call back. When none did he started looking on his own, and came across the ad for the blueberry farm. He told Marla about it, and she basically said, 'Are you crazy?' A week and a half later she said, 'Let's go and have a look at that farm.' And he said, 'Are you crazy?' But off they went, and about a week and a half later they bought the farm. Coincidentally, that was right about the time the first studies about the health benefits of blueberries started to make the news, so that the timing was perfect.
Instead of doing something obvious like making jams or jellies, George decided to get a little bit more serious with the winemaking hobby he had pursued for years. So, the second part of the operation is called the Blue Moon Estate Winery. George turns blueberries, blackberries, apples and strawberries from the farm into fruit wines, and also purchases fruits like pears and cherries from nearby orchards to make into wines. The one I tasted with Jo-Ann Roberts today is called Eclipse, it’s a port-style wine made from their own blueberries and Island blackberries. Wines made with fruits other than grapes in general have had a bad reputation, and that’s why George likes to keep the production small so he can meet potential customers coming in the door. "Our biggest hurdle is getting over the memories people have of the fruit wines their elders used to make down in the basement, and how they didn't really enjoy it. But we have people coming in here now and tasting, and saying how it's different than what they remember, and they like it."
The third component to this ‘venture in the swamp is called the Tria Culinary Studio. So along with your blueberries and fresh produce and wine that you can get at the farm, you step just to the side of the front counter and you find yourself in a beautiful kitchen that doubles as a dining room and a classroom. That’s where chef Kathy Jerritt hangs out. She returned from an inspirational trip to Italy where she realized she wanted to somehow take advantage of the wonderful foods available in the Comox Valley. She teaches cooking classes where you often go into the Nature's Way garden to harvest ingredients, and once a month during the growing season, Kathy hosts a full moon feast which includes a Blue Moon Winery cocktail, appetizers you eat as you tour the farm, a tasting of Blue Moon’s wines, and a 4-course plated meal paired with wine. The bad news is that the August and September feasts are sold out, the good news is that they’ve added another feast in September and you can always look ahead to the December winter solstice feast.
