Fruit Love Letters

"Even so, I cannot move away from my ‘self’/perpetually residing in a blueberry cave." Jessamine learns the history of both the cultivated blueberry and the native wild blueberry. For the former, she consults Kiyomi Locker, a historian for the Whitesbog Preservation Trust, birthplace of the cultivated blueberry. Through Kiyomi, Jessamine hears of Elizabeth White, the agricultural specialist who took the blueberry out of the woods and to consumers around the world. But just because most of us enjoy the cultivated blueberry doesn’t mean the wild one is gone. Brian Altvater and Holli Francis introduce Maine’s Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company, the only Native-owned wild blueberry enterprise in the world. Clearly, there is space for both the wild and cultivated blueberry in our homes and our bellies. Topics covered in this episode: Min 0:00: Jessamine Starr recites her poem to blueberries Min 1:35: Intro and blueberry description Min 3:17: Meet Kiyomi Locker Min 3:30: Whitesbog’s history as a village and cranberry bog Min 4:30: Elizabeth White’s blueberry cultivation endeavors Min 7:00: Blueberry varieties and crossbreeding Min 9:00: Blueberry plants: errors and successes Min 10:21: More explanations of blueberry varieties Min 12:25: Elizabeth White’s unknown legacy outside of Whitesbog Min 18:00: Meet Holli Francis and Brian Altvater Min 19:11: Health benefits of wild blueberries and how they grow Min 21:01: Passamaquoddy tribe history with wild blueberries and colonizer challenges Min 22:02: The result of The Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act Min 23:00: Altvater recounting the tradition of Passamaquoddy tribe harvesting and transitioning to mechanical methods Learn more about this episode of Fruit Love Letters at www.whetstoneradio.com, on IG and Twitter at @whetstoneradio, and YouTube at /WhetstoneRadio. Guests: Kiyomi Locker of Whitesbog Preservation Trust, Brian Altvater & Holli Francis of Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company