Well, I see the rose hips, which are sometimes called itchy bums, are turning some amazing shades of orange and red. You know what that means? It will soon be berry picking time.
There are several different types of Northern berries you can pick but with this yearSA国际影视传媒檚 summer drought it may not be a big harvest. Also, you may have noticed a shiny stickiness on a lot of plants and leaves. This is sometimes caused by the extremely dry conditions and tiny insects like aphids, which cause sap to appear on the surface. Now add to this the whitish grey ash from forest fires and the rose hips donSA国际影视传媒檛 look as inviting as usual.
But sometimes you come across a big patch loaded with bright berries that are almost taunting you to pick them. They just look so ripe, plump and inviting. It takes real willpower to walk by. After all, they are easy to pick because of their size and it's easy enough to avoid the thorns once you have learned to watch out for them. Once they are picked, you can clean them of stems, mash them up a little and dump them into boiling water and let them bubble away for a while.
Then the tricky part is to drain them through a sieve, cheesecloth or even an old T-shirt to separate the liquid from the skins, some of the pulp and especially the seeds. You donSA国际影视传媒檛 want to eat the seeds because if you do, as they pass through you, you will then discover why they are called itchy bums. Adults should know this but some kids, being kids, may eat them and discover this for themselves.
After cooking them and straining out the seeds, you have a liquid you can boil down and use for making jelly, tea or a drink of some sort. It has lots of vitamins in it and a pleasant, subtle flavour. ISA国际影视传媒檝e made several things out of it but often I do wonder if all the work is worth it. ThatSA国际影视传媒檚 what I try to tell myself but then I come across a patch just begging to be picked and I succumb to the temptation to pick just a few. The next thing you know I am in the kitchen like a demented alchemist cooking up a magical potion.
I much prefer picking lingonberries, often referred to as Northern cranberries. When prospecting in the fall, I would have a Ziplock bag or empty and clean old peanut butter jar to fill with berries should I come across a particularly good patch. I feel it is part of the job as a prospector to spend some time prospecting the berry patch and pick a few. They go good with just about anything SA国际影视传媒� good in oatmeal, soups and stews. Little bursts of tartness and flavour.
Traditionally, people in the North and remote areas would spend days or weeks picking berries as a valuable food source to help make it through the winter. As I mentioned, they contain a lot of important minerals and vitamins a person needs. Besides, itSA国际影视传媒檚 a nice way to spend the glorious fall days.
Unfortunately, from what ISA国际影视传媒檝e seen locally, it's not going to be a good year for berries unless you are out on the lake and picking along the shore, where the berries get more water from spray, fog and mists.
Berries are important to the people of the North and I think some communities should groom the patches and set up sprinklers to water them during droughts. I bet with a little work some could get a much higher yield and could even set up lingonberry farms, along with all the other berries, such as Saskatoon and haskap berries. A community berry garden could be a real bonus to our food security. And an SA国际影视传媒淚tchy Bum Jam and Jelly ContestSA国际影视传媒� would be a fun event. What the heck, why not give it a try?
