The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Freshen up your Fourth with berries
Enjoy summer’s bounty with recipes for salsa, tenderloin, pound cake.
Fourth of July = red, white and blue. How about Fourth of July menus = red, white and berry? It’s high summer. Berries are at their peak. Celebrate the holiday and the harvest with delicious fresh berries.
Ann and Joern Seigies are fans of berries, so much so that they named their farm “Bramberi” for the Old High German word meaning “brambleberry” or “blackberry.” The farm is about 60 miles north of Atlanta, near Dahlonega, and the Seigies grow blueberries, blackberries, strawberries and their favorite, raspberries, on their 25 acres.
Ann studied pomology in graduate school, specializing in strawberries. When the couple decided to start the farm, they knew they wanted to grow fruit, and they planned to grow organically. When they looked for the gaps in what they saw others growing, they found there were lots of berries, but very few people were growing raspberries.
“When we bought this land, there were about 25 blueberry bushes already here. We started planting blackberries and we added more blueberries and we planted raspberries,” Joern Seigies said.
“Raspberries don’t do well in the South, but we wanted to try. I give credit to Ann for our success. She’s very diligent and she’s been willing to go through a lot of trial and error so we could grow raspberries organically,” Seigies said.
Raspberries are susceptible to viruses and insects.
The farm has planted 20 different varieties of raspberries — both summer-bearing, such as “Dorman Red” and “Encore,” and autumn-bearing, such as “Autumn Britten” and “Nantahala” — in order to see which varieties will do better for them. They plant in different locations to see whether that makes a difference and experiment with various organic treatments.
What was important to them was being able to offer the longest possible season for their berries.
“Most farmers can offer berries in spring and summer, but we wanted to have berries available through the fall to first frost,” Joern Seigies said. “Our earliest berries are the strawberries, which are ready in April, then come the raspberries and blackberries.”
“The blueberries start ripening last, but with so many berries and so many varieties, in July it’s possible we can have all four kinds of berries available for our customers.”
Bramberi Farm sells their berries at the Suwanee and Dahlonega farmers markets on Saturdays, and at the Vickery Village Farmers Market on Thursday mornings. “We sell out every week,” Joern Seigies said.
“We love introducing our customers to the different varieties.”
“People don’t realize how many different colors of raspberries are available and how they vary in taste.”
When there are berries to spare, the Seigies enjoy experimenting by mixing the berries with the organic herbs they grow. “We enjoy the combination of strawberry and basil and blackberry and tarragon. We especially like those combinations in yogurt-based ice creams,” Joern Seigies said.