It's berries not cherries

The Hingston family runs Cherry Hill Farm, producing raspberries, black raspberries, red, black and pink currants, and gooseberries.

 http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2010707149911              High on a Springfield hilltop, a family grows delectable berries, and harvests them with a one-of-a-kind harvester.  •  Rutland Herald  •  By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer - Published: July 14, 2010  •  SPRINGFIELD – High on one of Springfield’s spectacular hilltops, the Hingston family grows delicious berries, destined for many of the region’s gourmet specialties.  •  Cherry Hill Farm is named for its location, not its fruit, although the family has since planted some cherry trees in an attempt to answer the inevitable questions.  •  If cherries were berries, the Hingston family would grow them in abundance. At Cherry Hill, you will find five different kinds of red raspberries, three kinds of black raspberries – also known as black caps – two varieties of gooseberries and plenty of currants: red, pink or champagne. You’ll also find four kinds of black currants, the latest berry to win the attention, if not devotion, of health advocates.  •  Black currants were prized by the British during World War II because of their high vitamin C content. The berry is beloved in Europe, while relatively unknown in the United States, although it is gaining converts.  •  “They have more antioxidants than blueberries,” said Peter Hingston, the one full-time farmer in the family, which bought the farm in 1989 and started growing berries 12 years ago. In Great Britain, Hingston’s native country, the family raised berries and apples, which were made into hard cider.  •  Currants had long been banned in the Northeast, because they are vectors for the white pine blister rust. But in early 2000, the federal government lifted the ban after rust-free varieties became available and the once-popular berry is back in cultivation. Now a new generation’s tastebuds have to learn to love the tart and rich flavor.  •  On one of this summer’s searing hot and sunny days the bushes also give off a distinctive odor, and the hilltop does have some drawbacks – the farm’s well doesn’t have enough water to allow for irrigation for the berries, which in this hot and dry summer are suffering.  •  “The last two summers have been very wet,” said Josie Hingston, one of the two Hingston daughters who returned home to help with the harvest. Honor, who lives in Colorado during the winter, is also home for the summer.  •  “We would do better if we had more water,” said Peter Hingston.  •  The rows of berries are free from netting, and the family has made its peace with birds.  •  “They eat a lot of bugs. We have enough to share,” said Peter Hingston.  •  “We wake up to the birds, we encourage the birds,” said Josie Hingston, and sure enough, a bluebird perched in the middle of one of the rows of red raspberries.  •  The Hingstons don’t spray their berries with any pesticides, but they have chosen not to go organic, citing the paperwork involved in getting that certification.  •  “We don’t spray, it’s too much hassle,” Peter Hingston said.  •  His wife, Vicki, is originally from New Hampshire, so the family always came to New England for vacations and knew the Connecticut River Valley well. They chose Cherry Hill Farm because of its location and soils.  •  “The soils warm up pretty quickly in the spring,” said Peter Hingston, who along with his daughter, Honor, noted that Cherry Hill dodged the late frost that worried many Vermont orchardists in May.  •  Cherry Hill Farm was last a dairy farm in the 1970s, and was in the Whitcomb family for years.  •  But now instead of cows, the fertile pastures in back of the dairy barns are filled with tidy rows of berry plants, with most of the acreage devoted to black currants. The family has four acres of black currants, a not-very-sweet berry prized for its tart, rich flavor, and used in liqueurs, preserves, wine and ice cream, as well as any number of pastries and pies. Previously, the black currant was used in Woodstock Water Buffalo’s yogurt, before that company went out of business.  •  Currants were long suspect in New England because the red currant was identified as a host for the pine-blister rust, but new varieties are resistant to the virus, said Vicki Hingston, who teaches at Springfield High School when there aren’t berries to harvest.  •  The couple’s two grown daughters, Honor and Josie, returned home to Springfield during the berry season to help with the harvest, whether it is running the family’s pick-your-own operation for black and red raspberries, or helping harvest the rows of black currants, for processing in the certified commercial kitchen built in the former milkhouse. The Hingstons’ son lives in New Hampshire and also pitches in.  •  “We freeze them, we puree them, we crush them, we juice them and we sell them whole,” Peter Hingston said. Vicky Hingston makes a variety of preserves as well.  •  Picking and harvesting the berries is aided by a custom-built harvester made by Peter Hingston, who brought a large container of old farming equipment and tools over from England, where black currants are more common.  •  But the harvester shakes the bushes, which are pruned to about 3 feet tall, and combs the large blue-black berries from the tiny clusters hanging from the bushes. The best time to harvest the purple-black berries are early in the morning and the early evening, when the berries aren’t as warm.  •  The Cherry Hill black currants find their way into Putney Mountain Winery’s Vermont cassis, a dry dessert wine. Cassis is the French word for black currants. In recent years, the black currant puree was used by Walpole Creamery’s handmade ice cream, and the berry is used in combination with other berries in Vermont Mystic Pies.  •  This year the family has developed a new product, black currant juice, which it is calling “Just So Vermont,” a nod to Rudyard Kipling, who wrote the famous “Just So Stories” and “Jungle Book” while living at his home in Dummerston. The juice, available at the Springfield Food Coop and Killdeer Farm Stand in Norwich, features a catamount on the label, which was designed by Honor Hingston.  •  The family has also planted Damson plum trees in addition to the namesake cherry trees. Peter Hingston is also trying to grow hops for beer, to see if his fertile hilltop farm can tap into another Vermont trademark product.  •  To view a video of the currant harvester, check the farm’s website: www.cherryhillfarmvt.com  •  http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100714/NEWS02/707149911/1003/NEWS02