Big Lake Farm Obtains License to Propagate Patented Berry Bushes

The university holds the patent on the honeyberry hybrid, which blends the hardiness of the Russian variety with the sweetness of the Japanese haskap.

Although the crop might be unfamiliar to most people, Hogate says it quickly gains favor. “People who come out to pick oftentimes will say, ‘I’ve never had a honeyberry,’ so they’ll pick one and then they leave with a bunch of plants because they love them so much,” she says.

The farm is also licensed to propagate a variety of bush cherry. These fruits are not as large as sweet cherries, but the plants are hardy enough for Zone 2, where temperatures drop to -40° or colder, and are easily harvested from a low bush. “You can envision the difference between picking cherries off of a tree, which is way up here, or just a bush where the cherries come all the way almost to the ground,” says Hogate. “It’s way more convenient. Plus, they’re just so much hardier than most cherry trees.”

Common Ground Alaska has been selling nursery stock of honeyberry and sour cherry, but the specimens must be sourced from Saskatchewan. “You wouldn’t think it would be hard, but getting plants from Canada to Alaska is so expensive,” Hogate says. “It actually has to go through Seattle and make a circle to get to us.” She adds that travel stresses the plants, and they’re not fully acclimated to Alaska, even coming from the northern prairie.

The propagation license, she says, removes complexity and expense from the process.

The farm also grows apples, plums, raspberries, currants, serviceberries (also called saskatoon; the home city of the University of Saskatchewan is named for the Cree word for the fruit), and sea buckthorn or Siberian pineapple, which produce orange berries that resemble citrus although they are not botanically related.

All the crops at Common Ground Alaska are harvested by customers themselves. “We usually go on an appointment basis,” says Hogate. “One day last year, we had over a thousand people on our little farm. So that was, um, a lot. But it was fun. It was such a fun day.”

For the propagated honeyberry and sour cherry plants, the farm is doing presales through the winter. At this stage, some of the Canada-grown stock is still in the mix. The growing season begins with an open house on May 8.