Friday, August 11, 2017

Picking Serviceberries . . .


On Thursday, my DIL and my two grands came over and we went to the hills to pick Service berries! In Canada they are called, Saskatoon berries, actually they have lots of names, but they are well known in Canada, and they love them and use them in so many wonderful and different ways.

It was a fun, despite almost being in two car accidents, neither one our fault.  I don't know about where you live, but here, there are so many terrible car accidents, it's just downright scary to go out on the roads!  Most of them are distracted drivers.  I hate to even think about how the roads will be during the, Eclipse, but that's another story, for another day . . .

Anyway . . .

It was a fun day, and the bushes were just filled with berries!  We picked a 5 gallon bucket full, although, we could have picked 50 gallons, there were so many.  And it didn't take us long at all.


After the picking comes the work . . . not so much fun (kind of like all berries), but so worth it!  We split the berries with Diana, so she can do something yummy with them.  These berries are ripe and ready to be made into jam or juice.  I plan on freezing some so that I can make pies and muffins as well.  Serviceberries have bigger seeds than a raspberry,  so I think I will make more jelly than jam. The seeds have a very almondy flavor when they are cooked,  I kind of like them.


Today I made a small batch of jam, using this recipe.  It is really good, especially yummy on toast...:0)  You can see how big the seeds are.


After we got done picking, we stopped for lunch at one of our old camping-stomping grounds.  Brody found the trees that still had the kids initials carved in them...oh my, the memories . . . 


Brody was just a little guy when he carved his initials in that tree . . .almost grown up now!


Clara was just a baby the last time she was here.  I remember pushing her and her cousin in the stroller, up and down the road, trying to get them to take a nap!  Now, she's getting so big . . . she's smiling through a mouthful of peanut butter sandwich and is still adorable!


Well, until next time.  Take care, and drive carefully!


Hugs and Love,

Barb






3 comments:

Marsha said...

The berries look yummy. You know, I don't think I've ever seen a service berry. But, where you stated that they have many names, maybe I have....hmmmm. It was a fun comparison to see how much the kids have grown since carving their names in the trees. Does that mean we're all getting older? - nah. Have a great day, Barb!

Anonymous said...

Barb, thank you so much for the pictures, explanation, and serviceberries recipe! They look delicious and I am definitely going to be on the lookout for them. The grandchildren have such sweet smiles! During the eclipse, I'm staying home! xo

Shug said...

Oh my....how I love those trees with the initials carved in them....that is totally awesome! I don't think I've ever seen those berries before...but they look so good. We must not have them down in our area. what fun that must have been, spending the day picking delicious berries. We have a toll road in our area that is so dangerous, that I refuse to go on it. Within a 5 mile distance, 14 people have already died from head-on collisions. this is terrible

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