These elderberry field images were taken summer of 2020 as we visited several organic elderberry farms around the Midwest. During these farm visits we enjoyed meeting the growers, learning about the specific elderberry species grown, soil amendments, water system, agricultural testing, growing challenges, and peak harvest time / procedures.

As the harvest wrapped up in late September, it was clear that across the board, growers had only a percentage of their anticipated yield. The organic growers we spoke with had unique natural and technical challenge(s); straight line winds in Missouri, low copper levels leading to a bacterial infection that wiped out 4 acres of elderberry in Arkansas, land hurricane and drought in Iowa…sadly, the list goes on...

Even with a hypothetical abundance of American elderberries this harvest, the surge in demand for elderberries has surpassed the current acreage in production across the states given the current global wellness focused climate.

A “perfect storm” of limited supply meets increased demand…

Given the minimal harvest, we are *extremely blessed* the small number of 2020 elderberries lasted this long!

As of now, our certified organic, American elderberry inventory has been depleted until harvest of 2021 next fall.

My intention & commitment to continue providing the highest quality elderberry preparation is steadfast.

Every effort went into finding a clean + fresh berry option for this preparation; as the fresh berry creates a far more concentrated end product vs. reconstituting from dry.

We are *beyond grateful* to have secured two extremely clean + fresh elderberry sources!

Wild harvested Northwest USA Elderberries

- Collected by hand from the native ecosystem.
- Untreated, as they are wild harvested from undisturbed land.
- Not certified through the National Organic Program (due to the unavailability of assessment and auditing staff; few auditors are willing to risk the level of travel required to meet demand).

Lab Tested European Elderberries

- Grown following certified organic protocols, although the farm has not gone through the certification process.
- Screened for 696 specific agricultural chemicals using an extensive 3rd party lab test.
- Test verified these chemicals met “not detected” levels which were far lower than “organic” benchmarks.