NDSU's Carrington Field Day will feature fruit project tour

The Northern Hardy Fruit Evaluation Project orchard will be the site of a tour and featured presentation during the North Dakota State University Carrington Research Extension Center's annual field day set for July 19.

The field day program will begin at 9 a.m. with coffee and a welcome. The fruit project tour will depart at 9:30 a.m. and return to the main area at noon. Lunch will be served at noon. No preregistration is needed. Kathy Wiederholt, Carrington Research Extension Center fruit project manager, will lead the tour of the center's fruit orchard.

The fruit project's featured speaker is Bruce Gussiaas, co-owner of Dakota Sun Gardens and Winery in Carrington, North Dakota. He will discuss the fruit-wine business he owns with his wife Merleen and the fruit they use to produce their award-winning wines. After 1 p.m., tours of the winery and gardens are available for a fee. The address is 955 73rd Ave NE, Carrington, ND 58421, 12 miles from Carrington Research Extension Center.

The Northern Hardy Fruit Evaluation Project was established in 2006 to introduce and demonstrate alternative, economically viable fruits that will grow in North Dakota. The project features demonstration plantings of University of Saskatchewan cherries and haskaps, as well as apples, aronia, red and black currants, grapes, honeyberries/haskaps, juneberries and plums.

The fruit project tour is one of several tours happening during the center's annual field day. Agronomy, beef production and organic/sustainable agriculture tours also start at 9:30 a.m.

For more information on this year's field day tours, contact the center at 701-652-2951 or visit http://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/ag-hub/events/carrington-rec-field-day.