A large quantity of the berries are sold as U-pick, but much of the harvest is also frozen and sold to hotels, bakeries and other businesses. Beside the orchard in a shady grove, there s a general store and rest area near a fenced pasture for approximately 70 head of buffalo. We serve a limited amount of the meat in the caf , in our buffalo potpie, Hamer says. Lean buffalo meat is leaner than venison and chicken. Buffalo hides and skulls are also sold.
Nothing is wasted.
The cafe and kitchen, built two years ago as part of a pioneer Main Street, offer frozen berries, home-made preserves and pies every day of the year. Hamer is currently planning a Christmas carnival for this year, featuring gift baskets and high quality crafts. The operation s fifth component, seedling production, is distinct from the garden centre, and it s given rise to the distribution of a million mail order catalogues across Western Canada. What the berry may currently lack in market profile it replaces with its unique place in Western Canadian tradition. For more than 10,000 years, the tribes of the Great Plains used this extremely nutritious berry as one of their dietary staples, particularly in pemmican, a mixture of powdered buffalo meat and tallow eaten during Canada s harsh winters.