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Spring is here, which means Hillsboro High School football coach Len Coryea is busy with his off-season conditioning program, preparing for a big season next fall.

A big elderberry season, that is.

When he's not teaching sixth grade science and reading, or running the off-season weight training program, Coryea may be found with a pitchfork or rake, cleaning out the dead branches and leaves from his giant elderberry patch, located on an old farmstead a couple miles west and mile or so north of town.

Whether it's preparing his players or pruning his berry patch, Coryea the coach and Coryea the gardener follow the same basic game plan:

Work hard in the off-season, keeping plants and players in shape to avoid risking disappointment with harvest yields or results on the scoreboard, when game time, or picking time, comes next fall.

Coryea planted his berry patch during spring break three years ago; a two-row berry patch as long as two football fields, spaced 15 feet apart.

In addition to pruning and keeping the weeds pulled, he waters his berry bushes with a trickle-pipe system, hooked up to the old farmhouse well.

During spring break this past week, Coryea spent time in his berry patch, pitchfork in hand, preparing for another bumper crop.

"This year is the third year they've been growing, so I've been pruning out the real big [plants]," he said. "They say it helps keep the crop fresher that way."

Last season, as his Trojan football team racked up a record number of wins on Friday nights, Coryea spent his Saturday mornings harvesting a record crop of elderberries.

"I started out with 100 saplings, and last year we harvested more than 100 pounds of berries," Coryea said. "During football season, I'd come out here for a couple of three hours on a Saturday. I'd clean them, wash them off, and get them in the freezer."

This past summer, Coryea sold juice, jelly, and syrup from a previous crop at the Hillsboro Farmers Market.

"I haven't gotten rich, I've hardly paid for my time," Coryea said. "In fact my wife told me I'm probably losing money. But it's a get-away; a fun thing to do. As a gardener, you do things to get away and have fun.

"If I'm not a school, and not at football in the fall, I'm here somewhere. I love the outdoors."

Coryea says the tranquil setting reminds him of his boyhood home back in western Pennsylvania.

"We had 35 acres just outside of town, which was basically two fields and the woods," he said. "I spent all day out there in the woods. And we had a little draw where there were elderberries, and, in the woods, we had blackberries."

Coryea keeps his berries in the freezer and processes them himself. Making elderberry juice or syrup is a lot easier than making jelly, he said.

"It's hard to get it to jell," Coryea said. "So whenever I have a failure, I just put it into syrup. When we have pancakes, my wife uses elderberry syrup. We had some on waffles this morning."

According to Wikipedia.com, the elderberry (Sambucus) is a genus of between 5-30 species of fast-growing shrubs or small trees. They bear large clusters of small cream-colored flowers in late spring, followed by small red, bluish or black berries.

But, the berries shouldn't be eaten raw because they are mildly poisonous, and can cause vomiting (particularly if eaten unripe). All green parts of the plant are poisonous.

The berries can be made into jam, pies, or syrup, because the mild cyanide toxicity is destroyed by cooking.

While the green plants are poisonous to humans, the plants are used by the larvae of exotic moths, including the swallow-tailed moth.

An avid hunter, Coryea says the berries also are good for attracting quail.

"The birds love it," he said. "They get half my crop. Blackbirds come in and clean off the top berries, they just clean them and shred them. The deer love them, too."

For centuries, both the flowers and berries have been made into elderberry wine.

"I did make some elderberry wine, but just for the syrup," Coryea said. "When you cook it, it takes all the alcohol out. It has a tangy flavor to it."

According to experts, clinical studies have shown that a formulation based on an extract of elderberry has proven effective in the treatment of type A or B influenza.

The flowers may be used to make an herbal tea, which is believed to be a remedy for colds and fever.

"The juice is supposed to keep you healthy," Coryea said. "I drink three tablespoons a day. But for awhile during football season last year, I didn't take it and right there at the end I got a cold.

"But I started taking it again as soon as football was done and I haven't had a cold since.

"Whether it's mind over matter, I don't know."

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