Panama Hartmann Honey beans ship in space-age mylar. The opaque, air-tight, puncture-resistant bags lock in freshness and repel the stray odors of neighboring freight.
Those same properties could make the bags ideal for shipping baby fruit trees to farms, orchards, parks, and backyards.
We'd been looking for a way to repurpose the material, to keep it out of the landfill as long as possible.
I asked Stephen, owner of Indian Creek Farm, about the shipping idea. Farmers are always improvising and reusing stuff.
"Hmmm... We'll take everything you got."
The bags will lock in moisture, keep out harmful light, and prevent the roots from piercing through. The 75# bags are perfect for 6-foot trees, while the 25# bags hold rootstocks beautifully.
Before we could cinch the test bag shut, Stephen got a sales call. In his best Kremlin accent: "Sorry, vee are not set up on fax, but vee can send you rare Siberian cherry tree in fabulous Sputnik suit."
Exotic Sumadinka. Mazzively tart cherry.
The u-pick orchards will open in June, but the nursery business is in full swing. During spring shipping season, truckloads of trees are distributed in time for planting.
In the damp tree barn, 20,000 saplings await their turn for a mylar magic carpet ride. Before we handed off the bags to Indian Creek, we checked with Ninety Plus, who had no problem allowing their branded bags to appear in connection with another business. Cool.
Looking east over the orchards.
Hey, cut me a few squares of that mylar...
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