Staff Favourites 2025
Staff Favourites 2025
Throughout the season, we sample all sorts of fruits from our orchard and each staff member chose one of their favourites. Considerations include the obvious such as taste/texture/aroma/etc, but also other traits like ease of growing with minimal care. We are offering a 20% discount on each staff favourite to encourage people to try growing these amazing varieties too!
Note that Staff Favourites do not qualify for the usual quantity discounts since they are already 20% off.
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2025 Staff Favourite
Cripps Pink Apples are Jodi's favourite this year! She has this to say about this variety: “I really like Cripps Pink for its crisp/crunchy bite texture along with its sweet-tart flavour. To top it off, they store well so I get to enjoy the crunch of them well into winter.”
All Staff Favourites are 20% off. The Staff Favourite Discount cannot be combined with other quantity discounts.
History: Cripps Pink was developed by John Cripps at the Western Australia Department of Agriculture in 1973 as a cross between Lady Williams (an Australian variety) and Golden Delicious. The successful result was introduced to the market in 1985. In just ten years, Cripps Pink became an extremely popular variety and over a million trees were planted in Australia alone. This variety remains popular in many countries around the world. This apple is also known as Pink Lady which is its brand name when the fruit meets very strict criteria for quality.
Why We Grow It: Cripps Pink has a refreshing honeyed sweet-tart flavour that makes it great for fresh eating, baking, and cider. The lovely fruit, yellow with a pinkish-red blush, is slow to brown and also stores exceptionally well.
2025 Staff Favourite
Early Golden Japanese plums are Jill's favourite this year! Jill has this to say: “The flavour reminds me of a peach, making it plum delicious and me peachy keen about it!”
All Staff Favourites are 20% off. The Staff Favourite Discount cannot be combined with other quantity discounts.
History: Early Golden originated in Fonthill, Ontario where it was discovered as a chance seedling. It has since become the most popular yellow plum in Ontario. Despite its Canadian origin, this is actually a Japanese plum.
Why We Grow It: Early Golden is a very popular Japanese freestone plum. The medium-sized fruit is very sweet with tangy yellow skin that gets a cheery red blush where the sun hits it. Medium-sized. The tree is vigorous and has a low susceptibility to black knot, although it requires careful thinning or else it will tend to bear crops every other year.
2025 Staff Favourite
Grandma Barbara-Anne Rhubarb is Steph's favourite this year! In her experience, “it makes a really pretty pink juice when cooked down. She used it to create a salad dressing that was lovely both in colour and flavour!”
All Staff Favourites are 20% off. The Staff Favourite Discount cannot be combined with other quantity discounts.
Species: Rheum sp
History: Zack's grandma Barbara-Anne grew this variety on her homestead near Poplar Hill. It has been enjoyed throughout the generations in a multitude of crisps, jams, tarts, sauces, and pies (see one of Mouse's pies in the pictures!).
Why We Grow It: Rhubarb is nutritious, incredibly easy to grow, and sports a showy bloom appreciated by both pollinators and humans. This perennial vegetable creates a lush, delicious ground cover and can be used to make a variety of delicious dishes.
A note on the "Grandma" Series: Inspired by Ken's 'Grandma Ethel Black currant', we decided to curate our own repertoire of family favourites grown by our grandmothers! Check out our tried-n-true gooseberries and raspberries in addition to the currants and rhubarb.
2025 Staff Favourite
Jostaberries are Wayne's favourite this year! He enjoys them because "they have the best qualities of both black currants and gooseberries."
All Staff Favourites are 20% off. The Staff Favourite Discount cannot be combined with other quantity discounts.
Species: Ribes x nidigrolaria, a cross between Ribes nigrum (black currants), Ribes divaracitum (black gooseberries), and Ribes uva-crispa (European gooseberries)
History: Jostaberries were created in West Germany in 1955 by Dr. Rudolph Bauer, although attempts to cross these three plants had begun as early as 1883 without success. They were eventually released to the public in 1977.
Why We Grow It: Jostaberries are a unique cross between three plants: black currants, black gooseberries, and European gooseberries. The berries taste like gooseberries at first and transition to a black currant taste as they ripen and darken.
2025 Staff Favourite
Mavor Sunchokes are Zack's favourite this year! In his personal experience "the large tuber size of these sunchokes makes them a great potato substitute. They are great fried in beef tallow!”
All Staff Favourites are 20% off. The Staff Favourite Discount cannot be combined with other quantity discounts.
Species: Helianthus tuberosus, Sunchokes are also known as Jerusalem Artichokes or J Chokes
History: Mavor sunchokes are of unknown origin since they were kindly given to us by a local customer named A. Mavor. We were impressed with the large size and flavour of this variety and wanted to make them available to more customers, so are offering them under the name Mavor as thanks to the person who gave them to us.
Why We Grow It: Mavor sunchokes produce large, knobby tubers that are great for cooking in all the same ways you would cook a potato. At least in our soil, some of the tubers produce have a nice reddish tinge to the skin. The tubers store quite well in the fridge. It is a quick growing variety and, like other sunchokes, can spread quite aggressively if left unmanaged.
2025 Staff Favourite
Pink Champagne Currants are Amanda's favourite this year! She says these are "beautiful translucent pink currants that taste as lovely as they look!"
All Staff Favourites are 20% off. The Staff Favourite Discount cannot be combined with other quantity discounts.
Species: Ribes rubrum
History: Pink Champagne currants are a cross between red and white currants. Although the exact origin is unclear, this variety was listed in the catalogue of William Prince's nursery in New York as early as the 1800s.
Why We Grow It: Considered to be one of the best fresh eating currants, Pink Champagne produces beautiful translucent pink berries that have a sweet, delicate flavour. They are easy to grow and produce numerous clusters of hanging, pink berries.
2025 Staff Favourite
Scotia Elderberries are Jenni's favourite this year! In Jenni's opinion “this variety is sweeter and less astringent than others, and I love using it to make elderberry syrup for an immune system boost in the winter months.”
All Staff Favourites are 20% off. The Staff Favourite Discount cannot be combined with other quantity discounts.
Species: Sambucus canadensis
History: Scotia was developed at the Kentville AAFC Research and Development Centre in Nova Scotia. It is a seedling of another variety, Adams 2, and was released by the research station in 1960, alongside the variety Nova. It is grown commercially in Canada.
Why We Grow It: Scotia elderberries ripen early in the season and have the highest sugar content of any named cultivar- though also some of the smallest berries. They are great for a variety of uses such as making juice and wine, baked goods, and even tinctures. Eating the raw elderberries can cause adverse reactions so it is recommended that you cook them first!
2025 Staff Favourite
Tolman Sweet Apples are Mouse's favourite this year! In their opinion Tolman Sweet apples are “a lovely green apple with a very unique sweetness! A must-try for anyone interested in exploring the full range of apple flavours!”
All Staff Favourites are 20% off. The Staff Favourite Discount cannot be combined with other quantity discounts.
History: Little is known about the origin of this heritage apple, but Tolman Sweet has been highly valued since its discovery. It is uncertain whether it came from Massachusetts or New York in the 18th or 19th century but it was first recorded in 1822. This hardy tree was used as a source of rootstock at one time.
Why We Grow It: Tolman Sweet is a great all-purpose apple. The fruit are medium-sized with yellow skin, and have a distinctly sweet, dry flesh. They are nice for fresh eating but can also be used in baking, drying, and pickling. Their unusually low acid content helps to reduce acidity in both sweet and hard cider.