Definitely fruity: Strawberries, raspberries, ground cherries, Mirabella and Stanley plums, peaches, apples, apricots, pears, sweet cherries, shipovas, blueberries--all raised organically.
The Mirabella plum was brought to the U.S. by my German ancestors back in the 1850s. It doesn't come true to seed and must be grafted. Both grafted trees and scions were shipped to Buffalo, NY, when my ancestors lived in that area, later bringing trees here to their settlement here in Iowa. The scions were stuck in potatoes to keep them viable on the long voyage across the Atlantic. There are now only a few trees left in this country, but the French consider Mirabella plums to be a delicacy and raise them in orchards.
The Shipova is a cross between a mountain ash and a pear. The fruit is small, about the size of a quarter, and squat, like an Asian pear. It's very sweet. There are only a few other trees of this variety in the U.S.
One of our apple trees is a "johnny Appleseed" tree. It was cloned in the 1990s from a century-old tree planted by Johnathan Chapman in a small town in Ohio.
Ground Cherries are actually a relative of the tomatillo, but are considered a fruit. They make delicious pies and jams.
