thats great! good to see them moving for you!
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As the aronia harvest is underway and getting larger than ever I’m finding that many people purchased their fruits months in advance. This is a new concept to me to sell fruit before you have it but I’ve done it before with grain. Never liked the concept of selling what I don’t actually have months before it’s ripe but I can see I need to learn to do this. There are about 45 wineries in Kansas but moving a few acres of berries is still a challenge. If your interested in trying any of these wines from Kansas here is a link to many of them Wineries & Vineyards in Kansas | Tours & Tasting Rooms. Who knows in a year or two you might be trying aronia wine! If someone called with a 100 gallon order I wouldn’t be concerned in the slightest right now because I could fill it many times over! At 5 pounds of berries per gallon and bushes potentially being capable of 100 pounds per bush ( the grower I got my Viking aronia from got that yield in Nebraska sometimes) and current prices at $5 per pound and up you can see why a field of aronia might be worth growing! The grower and my friend who grew my aronia plants was Harlan Hamernik who was likely the best aronia grower on the planet and the plants have more than confirmed that claim http://www.greenhousegrower.com/home/the-industry-remembers-harlan-hamernik/. He was likely better known for his many other accomplishments but his pet project was growing aronia.
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I’m currently looking to buy some farmland and plan to grow aronia, elderberry and black currant as well as u pick raspberries and blackberries. just got to save the downpayment for the land. 
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Moose71,
I remember 3 years of 70+ hours a week without a day off to come up with this down payment. At the time when I dreamt it up I certainly had no idea of the cost in $'s or labor hours! It was worth it!
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thats great inspiration! I’ve been looking but land is getting pricey. i have 100 acres of tilled fields offered to me to plant on but its a ways from me and what if he decides to sell it? i lose my investment. its so remote that it would be hard to protect the crop from thieves. its very tempting tho. another farmer is leasing the other 100 acres and planting potatoes, oats and sugar beets.
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Clark，I wish I lived near you and could easily drive over to buy some berry from you. I just picked my aronia berry a week ago, and wish had 5~10 pound more to make another batch of wine. Mine is aronia nero, very disease resistance, good size fruits, can eat fresh when fully ripe, hint of sweet but dry. JP loves its leaf though
This is my wine must, 1gallon,still bubbling. First time make aronia wine and will tell how I like it in few months
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do you mix with other fruit or just aronia?i bet concord grape would make a good mixed red wine.i plan to make some elderberry wine also.
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50/50with grapes
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It’s floating around in my head that I read somewhere that some juice companies add a small percentage of aronia to bottled juice for color. Don’t know where I read it or if it’s true, but I wanted to contribute to the discussion!
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KYWeaver,
It is true I’ve seen it as an ingredient in what I believe was old orchard juice at the grocery store.
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These are a few pictures from earlier today. I took a break from my other work and picked a bucket of aronia.
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They are beautiful.
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Just curious,How do you pick aronia berries？I only have one bush.by the time I picked all the berry off branches, I my back hurts
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They are really bad when they are younger because they are shorter. Just grab a handful and move them back in forth in your fingers over the bucket and they fall in. If your back hurts you are likely doing it the right way. Like picking green beans kind of but not that bad. As the bush gets taller the backache goes away.
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i kneel on a foam pad to pick . next year I’m pruning out those low branches. should be easier picking next year. mine are 3rd leaf.
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i have to say, i enjoy eating them fresh over jam. tried 2 different recipes and the taste is too sweet and bland for me. got 1 bush left to pick and I’m going to freeze them to use in other recipes and to eat with my oatmeal .
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Viking aronia seem much sweeter than McKenzie at my property which is fortunate for me since I have more Viking. The berries I have this year are very high quality as far as aronia goes.
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i have viking and a polish cultivar, galicjanka. both are similar in size and flavor.
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My 4 bushes were loaded this year, picked some on august 22, when I went back august 27, about everything was gone, maybe birds.
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I’m considering adding a few Aronia plants. Do they have any pest issues such as swd?
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