Raspberry Crop - 2024

This will be my eighth season for my backyard Raspberry Beds (read about 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023).  I have 4 varieties (Prelude, Joan J, TulaMagic, and Nova) each in a 2x30 foot bed.  I'm coming off of a bit of a decline year for the raspberries where I got 25 lbs of fruit and not starting with that many canes from last year.  I get busy on other projects and the beds end up getting overgrown with weeds which then stifle next year's growth.  I'm going to work to keep the weeds a bit more contained this year.  If this year doesn't help regain the strength then I may have to purchase some new stock for next year to replenish the beds.

Even so, 25 lbs of fruit is still a lot and I still have much of the fruit from previous years around to use in my brewing and cooking.  I will track the status of the fruit over the year for the record

Sour Cherry Crop - 2024

This will be the fifth season for my 4 North Star Sour Cherry trees (read about Season 1, Season 2, Season 3 and Season 4).  The trees are probably about 9 feet tall now and 6 feet in diameter.  I got 39 lbs of fruit last year which more than has met my needs for brewing.  I expect we'll get a similar amount this year based on the flowering so far.

These are a dark fleshed variety of Sour Cherries which, although sour, also have a pretty strong cherry flavor like the sweeter cherry varieties.  I've just made my first Sour Beer with them and look forward to backfilling my stock of fruit to make some more.

It will be interesting to watch how they grow thicker and stronger this year

4-18-24