Sunday 3 August 2008

August Abundance

I was out taking pictures around the yard, as I like to do on a Saturday morning, when I came across this bush that was just dripping in ripe saskatoon berries. I had noticed a few of the other smaller bushes around our acreage had quite a few plump berries on them, more so than in previous years.

This bush was just covered in berries though, and I'd never noticed it before. I think that's because I never used to go over to this part of our property much, since all that was there was a brush pile. But now the Big Garden's over there, and I go there pretty much every day. The berries from the other bushes were enough to sprinkle on a dish of vanilla ice cream, but this abundant amount of berries is enough to make muffins or cobbler!

It is quite a nice feeling to go out to the yard and pick an assortment of edible things. Yesterday I scrabbled a few nice potatoes from under the potato plants, along with a few nice sized carrots, a large handful of beans, and a few cherry tomatoes. That, and a few more sage, yarrow and bergamot leaves gave me the makings of a really good, mostly local dinner, beverage included!

It's amazing what the land will provide, when you give it a chance. I wonder what else is out there, that I haven't discovered yet.

7 comments:

J said...

How neat about your berries. And yum, you COULD make an excellent dinner - tea included with your grub.

I've never heard of that type of berry, are they similar to any of the more "common" berries?

Simply Authentic said...

Looks good! I agree, it's great to be able to wander out and pluck good edible stuff off the land. I spent some time with my extended family this weekend and came back to my little apartment with all sorts of good produce...yum!

Theresa said...

Jennifer - sometimes saskatoon berries are called service berries. They're a lot like blueberries and I'm told were used in pemmican by the First Peoples. They are quite tasty!

Thanks SA - and while wandering around today watering some aspen saplings, I found four more bushes just like this one! Tomorrow my deep freeze gets set up, and I know the first thing that's going in it!

EJ said...

I too picked saskatoons this weekend. Mine are destined for muffins.

I've learned that getting early potatoes is called "tickling under the skirt".

Theresa said...

I ended up making some saskatoon muffins too - they were quite good, but I may add some orange peel next time. What is your recipe, E?

Ah, so that's what I was doing with those potatoes ;)

Anonymous said...

Oooo, I miss those saskatoons from when I was a kid in Manitoba.

Theresa said...

The saskatoons are as big as blueberries this year - it is quite amazing! I will be picking more this weekend before they all shrivel up in the heat....