"Johanne Aga-Dryden with 20 tonnes of cherry pits she plans to use to make packs that retain heat and cold"

Tonnes of pits to become comforting Pacs

Helen Metella Journal Staff Writer - Edmonton

Johanne Aga-Dryden's long weekend has been "the pits." Saturday morning, a trucker dumped 20 tonnes of cherry pits at the Edmonton woman's feet. Cherry pits are a natural alternative to hot water bottles and cold compresses, explains Aga-Dryden, a former occupational therapist.

The plan was for New Sarepta farmer Eckhard Nessler to feed them into his grain drier to remove dirt and moisture. From there, they were headed to several storage bins, awaiting Aga-Dryden and a platoon of teenagers and unemployed friends. Throughout August, this mini-assembly line is determined to scoop the cherry stones into small cotton bags which will be sold at local craft shows for $ 10 and $15 a piece.

They hold their temperature for 20 to 30 minutes and are comfortable to place against your body, acting much the way a frozen bag of peas does when an athlete slaps it against a pulled or swollen muscle. They go into the microwave for quick warm-ups and won't grow cold over night because they draw body heat. In cotton bags, they are also machine washable.

"I'm from Norway, but my German sister-in-law is a midwife and orders things from a midwifery catalogue," said Aga-Dryden. "She sent me one and I soon told her to send me more because, 'My husband wants it. My cat wants it.' " If the avid interest they generated last fall the first time Aga Dryden produced her own version is any indication, by Christmas she should sell thousands of the product dubbed Pitpacs.

But this weekend, the stones went "thwp" to jam the operation. Instead of sliding happily into the grain drier's auger, the clumps of wet pits, still coated with a trace of cherry pulp, immediately clogged it up. So the trucker dumped them in Nessler's field while Aga-Dryden figures out another way to mass dry them.

But like all new product marketers, she's certain the goal is worth a few pits in the road. A part-time potter, Aga-Dryden has wrapped rectangular Pitpacs around her lower back and neck to relieve strain while sitting at her pottery wheeL Currently employed as a career counsellor, Aga-Dryden is committed to making this work. Those 20 tonnes of pits represent 350 tonnes worth of cherries, almost the entire output of British Columbia's 25 sour cherry orchards, says Don Yule, manufacturing manager at Sun-Rype Products Ltd. in Kelowna, where the fruits were pitted.

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