Organic Blackcurrants Production Flowchart

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We begin preparing the land two years in advance by enriching our soil with various forms of marine, animal and/or plant derived sources of nutrients. Having a rich source of nutrients in the initial stage of plant establishment produces stronger, more productive plants

Field being prepared for planting

Our blackcurrant plants are sourced from a nursery in British Columbia

Blackcurrant plugs or bare root plants are planted in April/May

Ron Walsh planting his black currants in the spring of 2009

We promote the best growth of the plants by controlling weeds through tillage or ground cover throughout the growth cycle of the currant plants

Stephen Cousins weeding his black currant plants at the Shepherd’s Farm

The blackcurrant harvest on Prince Edward Island is in late August and early September. Berries that cannot be mechanically harvested are hand picked

The Cousins harvesting their currants in the early fall at the Shepherd’s Farm
A WWOOFer from Japan harvesting black currants on Springwillow Farms

Our blackcurrants are sent to an Island-based processing plant where they are cleaned, de-stemmed, colour sorted, packaged and frozen. Every farm has its own identification number that is clearly printed on the packaging so that the currants can be easily traced back to the farm on which they were grown

The blackcurrants that are to be made into jam are transported to the Preserve Company where they are used to make delicious blackcurrant jam. The jam is made in small batches and is made of Island grown organic blackcurrants and organic sugar. Each jar is carefully bottled, sealed and labelled individually by hand by the dedicated staff at the Preserve Company

Organic black currants being made into black currant jam at the PEI Preserve Company
Organic black currants being mixed with organic sugar at the PEI Preserve Company
Organic black currant jam before bottling
Adam and Audrey Gamester bottling organic black currant jam at the PEI Preserve Company
Audrey Gamester & Dawn Gallant hand carefully labelling and sealing each individual bottle

Pallets of jam are loaded onto containers, transported to Halifax, and shipped by sea to our partners in Japan