Riverbend Orchards

Manitoba's Own

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September 24, 2020 – FALL COLOUR = THE END OF SUMMER

Its a glorious time of year for tree huggers! Native trees are starting to turn golden while some of our introduced maples bring wonderful reds. Another year of growing is in the books!


September 9, 2020 – HAVE YOU TRIED A PRAIRIE PEAR?

Yes we can grow pears in Manitoba. They are smaller and not as sweet as what you could buy at the grocery store, but they are tasty in their own right. Pictured below in order of ripening ‘Early Gold’ (left), ‘Ure’ (center) and ‘Golden Spice’ (right).


August 25, 2020 – APPLE HARVEST

Today we started our harvest of ‘Goodland’ apples. The fruit is slightly smaller this year due to a dry summer but the quality is excellent. Over the next week we will harvest close to 5000 lbs of spray-free apples. Many of these are delivered to our produce partners in Winnipeg; the balance will be pressed into cider.


July 14, 2020 – “LATE SEASON” HASKAP

We’re still picking haskap in mid-July, almost a month after our season started. This year was the first time we left several rows of ‘Aurora’ for late picking. The berries still have good texture and wow are they ever sweet!


July 6, 2020 – COUNTRY STORE

Today we re-opened our country store with to the public. We are pleased to offer a selection of fresh/frozen fruit, berry spreads and saskatoon pies.


June 22, 2020 – TIME FOR HASKAP PICKING

Our haskap picking season started today with the cultivar ‘Tundra’. ‘Tundra’ was one of the first introductions from the U of SK breeding program. It picks clean and dry and constitutes the bulk of our frozen haskap production.


June 17, 2020 – A WINDSTORM TO REMEMBER

Does anyone else wonder if the frequency of heavy windstorms is increasing? A major system blew through our area early in the morning and tested all the trees in the yard. One of victims was a very large cottonwood which fortunately fell in a direction away from the house!


June 12, 2020 – A BETTER WAY TO NET HASKAP

Thanks to some manufacturing ingenuity we were able to apply this year’s bird netting to our haskap much more quickly. Our friend Henry constructed a heavy steel bar with retaining plate that could be easily anchored to our front end loader. A job that once took days was complete in a matter of hours. Watch a short video by clicking here. Remember, no net = no fruit!


May 27, 2020 – POTTING FINISHED

Every May we pot up any remaining plug cuttings into 1 gallon pots for another summer of growth. A tray of 50 plug cuttings becomes a tray of six 1 gallon pots. These 2000 plants will quadruple in size over the summer reaching a mature height of 12-18″ by September. Most of these plants will bear fruit in 2021.


May 21, 2020 – HASKAP ARE BLOOMING

After a cold start to the month of May, we entered into a heatwave this week with temperatures in the high 20’s and strong southerly winds every day. The haskap quickly burst into bloom  – these are 3 year old ‘Aurora’. We consider our orchard to be quite sheltered, but the wind has knocked 10% of the blossoms off each plant. Flowering is also a good time to apply water and nutrients to young and established haskap plants.


May 12, 2020 – MINUS 10 C = A BLOSSOM’S WORST FEAR

In the first half of May we faced some unusual temperatures that resulted in complete fruit loss for several crops including tart cherry, plum and apricot. In particular, the morning of May 12 produced a low temperature close to -10 C. Although these fruit crops had not yet flowered, their flowers buds had activated internally and were very susceptible to cold temperatures. Fortunately, our saskatoons, haskap, apple, pear and gooseberry were unaffected.


May 2, 2020 – SHELTERBELTS: NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART

This spring we decided to replace a 35 year old row of Northwest poplar with a blue spruce shelterbelt. Felling the poplar trees was quick and painless but the cleanup was a major undertaking where lots of family help was needed. Nevertheless, we are very pleased with the final result and look forward to decades of year-round protection.


April 13, 2020 – HEALTHY HASKAP – ITS ALL ABOUT THE SKIN

This photograph reminded me of the uniqueness of haskap. Each haskap fruit is actually composed of two to four smaller “berries” wrapped in a larger “shell”. Normally, this unusual anatomy goes unnoticed, but an unfused ovary provides the opportunity to peer inside the developing fruit. The large surface area (skin) of a single haskap berry is immediately obvious. This blue layer is filled with wonderful phytochemicals including anthocyanin, a powerful anti-oxidant.

March 1, 2020 – MY TAKE ON HASKAP CULTIVARS

The fruit industry is no different than other sectors of agriculture in terms of pursuing the latest and best genetics. Riverbend Orchards is a licensed propagator of the haskap cultivars from the University of Saskatchewan. We have tested every haskap released from Dr. Bor’s program and also closely followed the findings of other growers worldwide. Riverbend’s plantings of haskap have focused on cultivar ‘Aurora’ with suitable pollinizers. We like this cultivar for its upright habit that is very suitable for mechanical harvesting. The graph below (provided by U of SK) also shows that ‘Aurora’ holds its own when comparing fruit yield with the newer ‘Boreal Blizzard’.

October 12, 2019 – THE AFTERMATH OF AN UNEXPECTED STORM

Winter decided to come early in Manitoba this year. Heavy snow and strong winds arrived on October 11. Although many of the fruit plants (see sour cherries below) were bent down under the wet snow, the greatest damage occurred on shade trees in the yard including a prized Norway Maple that was split in two.


September 9, 2019 – NEW HASKAP PLANTING

Today we completed another haskap planting at our farm: 670 Aurora and 200 Honey Bee were installed in an area that had been in saskatoon production two months before. With the help of a Schulte mower and a subsoil mulcher, the area was quickly transformed for planting.


March 30, 2019 – GARDENING SATURDAY PRESENTATION

Today we had the opportunity to talk about backyard orchards with two groups of avid gardeners at Gardening Saturday in Winnipeg. A copy of the Powerpoint presentation can be viewed or downloaded at this link: The prairie orchard


March 14, 2019 – NATIONAL PI(E) DAY

How fitting that on National Pi Day we began another exciting, edible adventure at Riverbend Orchards. In conjunction with the good folks at Harvest Pie Company, we are happy to bring back our famous saskatoon pies. Each frozen 8″ pie is filled with naturally sweet, ‘Smoky’ saskatoon berries grown at our farm. Bake at 400 F for 45 minutes for a piece of prairie paradise! Available as singles ($10) or in cases of 12 for $110.


December 4, 2018 – THE POWER OF PURPLE FRUITS

We came across a very interesting article on CBC News regarding the power of anthocyanins to heal our bodies. Riverbend Orchards has an excellent selection of fruits with high anthocyanins including: saskatoon berry, honeyberry (haskap), tart cherry, chokeberry (aronia) and cherry plum. We need to work with local research groups to better characterize these prairie fruits and get the message out to local consumers that prairie fruit not only tastes good, but has the potential to fight disease.


October 31, 2018 – YOUNG PLANT INVENTORY FINISHED

We have finished our counts of 1 year-old rooted cuttings and 2 year-old containers of haskap. This year our available stock is mostly made of two outstanding cultivars from the University of Saskatchewan: ‘Aurora’ and ‘Boreal Blizzard’. These new selections represent the best haskap genetics available at the present time with refinements to fruit yield, fruit size and plant habit.


October 23, 2018 – NEW HIGHWAY SIGN MARKS 10 YEARS IN BUSINESS

Today we erected our new double-sided farm sign on the west side of highway #240. Featuring our new logo, this sign was printed by Pro-Image in Portage la Prairie. It replaces the sign we had put up in the same location back in 2009, our first year in business.


August 16, 2018 – HOLLYWOOD COMES TO RIVERBEND ORCHARDS

Today Riverbend Orchards became Seaton Orchards, the set of a Hallmark movie titled “Love, Of Course”. Starring Kelly Rutherford, Cameron Mathison, Mackenzie Vega, and Gabby Douglas, the film includes three scenes shot at our farm. We were amazed to stand back and watch the “army” of people required for a movie shoot.


September 6, 2017 – FRESH-PRESSED APPLE CIDER

Today we hauled 2500 lbs of surplus apples to Burwalde Juice in Winkler for pressing. The process of wringing juice out of apples is quick and efficient with a modern day apple press. We took home 180 2 litre bottles of organic, fresh-pressed apple cider. Thanks to Marcus and his folks. We’ll be back!


July 31, 2017 – SOLAR POWER FOR RIVERBEND ORCHARDS

Construction began on our solar generating system today. We have an ideal site along the northern edge of the farm that provides shelter from the north and unobstructed sunlight to the south. Thank you to Shayne Hutchins and his team who came all the way from southern Ontario to install this beauty. Jake Waldner from JAW Electric of Portage la Prairie handled all of the grid hookup including trenching.


July 3, 2017 – A BIG BOOST TO OUR HASKAP PRODUCTION

Today was planting day for 2 acres of haskap plants at Riverbend Orchards. We used ‘Aurora’ as the main cultivar with ‘Tundra’ as the pollinizer (3:1 ratio). The plants were 2 years old, growing in 1 gal containers. Thank you to Henry Dyck who was a huge help getting these plants in the ground.


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Merry Christmas from our family to yours. Peace on Merry Christmas from our family to yours. Peace on Earth, good will to men!
Shop local for your Christmas feasting. Visit our Shop local for your Christmas feasting. Visit our online store to purchase Saskatoon pies, Apple cider, frozen fruit and berry spreads. Curb side pickup available. https://riverbend-orchards.square.site/
Looking to include a taste of local for Thanksgivi Looking to include a taste of local for Thanksgiving this year? We still have our local spray free apples available, along with our locally pressed apple cider and fresh saskatoon pies! Please place your preorder through our website.
It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for! Our S It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for! Our Saskatoon pies are back in stock! At $10 a pie you can’t go wrong! Place your order through our online store.
September is officially here! So why not bring a t September is officially here! So why not bring a taste of fall into your home with our fresh local apples and delicious cider? 10 lbs of Goodland apples is $15, 2 litres of freshly pressed cider is $10. Preorder through our store.
We are excited to offer our machine harvested sask We are excited to offer our machine harvested saskatoons! At $25 for 4 litres, these berries are clean and ready for processing into jams and pies!
Our Smoky Saskatoons are at their prime this weeke Our Smoky Saskatoons are at their prime this weekend! Branches are bending under the weight of bountiful purple berries. We have kept our upick price at $16 per 4 litre pail. Come out today, Friday and Saturday and enjoy the easy picking. No appointment necessary, our 20 rows can easily accommodate social distancing.
For the next three weeks, our country store will b For the next three weeks, our country store will be open, Monday to Saturday, 8 AM to 6 PM. A selection of fresh and frozen fruit, many different flavours of homemade jam, and our handmade Saskatoon pies are all available! Come on down!
Fresh from our farm to you! Our haskap season is o Fresh from our farm to you! Our haskap season is officially open! Our 2 lbs clamshells are $20! Our sun-ripened haskap berries are packed full of vitamins and antioxidants. Please visit our online store to preorder for curbside pick-up.
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Riverbend Orchards Inc.
100 Old Bridge Road
Portage la Prairie, Manitoba
R1N 3X3

Call (204) 870-1140

riverbend@mymts.net

 

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