Picking time is upon us

By LISA LOSASSO BELL

It’s berry picking time, so put on your old sneakers and get out to the fields.

Fresh berries are a sure sign of summer. They’re loaded with vitamin C, potassium and fiber and make quite a sweet treat.

Jim and Anna Munholand, of the Ellsworth Berry Farm on Gault Road in Ellsworth Township, have been growing blueberries for 31 years. Originally from Boardman, the Munholands were always quite fond of gardening, subscribing to Mother Earth News and Organic Gardening.

As a young couple with small children, they decided to move out to the country to start a berry farm. With help from Walter Sherman, who was then the manager of the Mahoning County Extension Farm, they began growing blueberries. “The health benefits [of blueberries] are the No. 1 reason we started,” said Munholand, explaining that blueberries help to prevent memory loss, aid cardiovascular circulation and are packed with antioxidants, which help to prevent cancer.

Sherman had the first berry farm in the area, which was on Leffing-‚ãwell Road. According to Munholand, Sherman held a master’s degree in agriculture from Ohio State University and began growing blueberries at age 60. He was 92 when he and Munholand first met, and lived to be 99 years old.

The Munholands now grow blackberries, blueberries and red raspberries and work in cooperation with Jim and Karen Dillon of Dillon Fruit Farm in Lisbon. The two families share in the cost of fertilizer, marketing and production cost and pull together on many aspects of berry farming. “These two farms working together has been very successful,” he said.

Munholand explained that people come from Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Akron, Kent and Ravenna to pick berries. “It surprises the heck out of us because the word really gets out there,” he said.

Because fertilizers are petroleum based, the increased price of fuels has made the cost of farming go up. As a result, the Munholands are trying to go more toward organic farming.

When the Munholands began, they worked with their children, who are now grown and have established successful careers of their own. Their daughter, Laura Lewis, now works as a chemical engineer for Delphi Packard Electric. Their son Caleb works as a plant engineer for Delphi, and Luke works as a chemical engineer for Fluent, out of New Hampshire.

Now that their children are on their own, the Munholands rely on the help of Lisa Ruthrauff, who has been with them for 13 years and began helping in the fields at a very young age, and Lindsay Cummings, who has been with them for five years. Both women now manage the store.

Other workers include Parker Clegg and Clayton Frame, both from the area; and Adam Barker, who came from England to visit his grandmother for the summer. The boys pick berries and help to manage the fields.

Every May, when the berry plants flower, the Munholands rent beehives from Floyd Marshall to help with pollination. If it is cold, the bees stay in the hives and don’t come out to pollinate. From the berry farm, the bees go to a pumpkin farm.

On the first day of June the bird netting goes up.

“This year’s storms ripped up the netting, which had to be totally redone,” said Munholand. “The front field was totally devastated, so we rolled it up and redid it.”

But, he explained, things are going well. “It’s a great year,” he said. “The best year we ever had.”

The Munholands do not sell wholesale. It is all “pick-your-own.”

“We get a lot of children,” he said. “People even come out with walkers, wheelchairs and scooters.”

Munholand said he likes to tell kids that they have to be weighed before they go picking so he knows how much they ate.

A common goal and a lot of hard work have made the Ellsworth Berry Farm a thriving enterprise. “Anna drives the business,” said Munholland. “My best function is to support her.”

Red Cooler

2 cups cranberries

2 cups raspberries

1 cup 100 percent cran-raspberry juice

1 cup fat free raspberry yogurt

2 cups ice

Place all ingredients into blender and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

Servings: 4

Berry Blast Smoothie

2 cups blueberries

2 cups raspberries

2 cups strawberries

2 cups blackberries

1 cup 100 percent cran-raspberry juice

1 cup low fat blueberry yogurt

2 cups ice

Place all items into blender and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

Servings: 8

Strawberry Yogurt Shake

1‚Ñ2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice

3‚Ñ4 cup plain low-fat yogurt

11‚Ñ2 cups frozen, unsweetened strawberries

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

Add ingredients, in order listed, to blender container. Puree at medium speed, until thick and smooth.

Servings: 2

Strawberry Mint Lemonade

4 cups water

1 cup sugar substitute

4 cups fresh mint leaves, lightly packed

1 quart strawberries, hulled, halved

1 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed

Place 2 cups water, sugar substitute and mint in a small saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain into a blender, discard mint. Thinly slice 1 cup of strawberries and set aside. Add one-half of the remaining strawberries into a blender and blend until smooth; pour into 2 quart pitcher. Stir in sliced strawberries and remaining water. Add sugar to taste if needed, stirring until dissolved. Cover and chill until serving.

Servings: 4

Berry Blast Smoothie

2 cups blueberries

2cups raspberries

2 cups strawberries

2 cups blackberries

1 cup 100% cran-raspberry juice

1 cup low-fat blueberry yogurt

2 cups ice

Place all items into blender and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

Servings: 8

Berry Blast Smoothie

2 cups blueberries

2 cups raspberries

2 cups strawberries

2 cups blackberries

1 cup 100 percent cran-raspberry juice

1 cup low fat blueberry yogurt

2 cups ice

Place all items into blender and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

Servings: 8

Banana Berry Jumble

1 large banana, halved and cut into 1‚Ñ2-inch pieces

3‚Ñ4 cups fresh or frozen cranberries

1‚Ñ4 cup oats

1‚Ñ2 teaspoon nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a large non-stick skillet. Cook on medium-high heat just until cranberries begin to soften, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; cool slightly. Spoon into bowls and top with low-fat whipped topping, fat-free sour cream or low-fat frozen yogurt, if desired.

Servings: 2

Black and Blueberry Smoothie

2 cups blackberries

2 cups blueberries

1 cup fat-free plain yogurt

1 cup fat-free milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups ice

Place all ingredients into blender and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

Servings: 4

Watermelon Blueberry Banana Split

2 large bananas

8 watermelon scoops – a watermelon ball created with an ice cream scoop

2 cups fresh blueberries

1‚Ñ2 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt

1‚Ñ4 cup low-fat granola

Peel bananas and cut in half crosswise, then cut each piece in half lengthwise. For each serving, lay 2 banana pieces against the sides of a shallow dish. Place a watermelon scoop at each end of the dish. Fill the center space with blueberries. Stir yogurt until smooth, spoon over watermelon scoops. Sprinkle with granola.

Servings: 4