juneberry pie
Here it is, the grand finale. Let’s get one thing straight: juneberries are a crop. These bushes yield so much fruit that you would need a crew of workers to pick, sort, and process all of them. Chelsea, her mom, and I decided to end the season with a bang and headed out the night before the fourth to collectively harvest as many berries as we could. We picked and bagged and picked and bagged until the heavy-duty plastic shopping bag I was carrying was so heavy it started to make my fingers numb. The next day we picked out the stems and leaves, made juneberry pancakes, baked a gigantic pie, froze more berries for pie, and stirred up a batch of jelly. While on a walk that morning past the scene of our berry raid, the same trees hung heavily with rich, purple fruit glistening in the sun as if they hadn’t even been touched and were begging us to pick more. In these times of deficit, it’s pretty cool to see such an organic surplus that is free for the picking. If only money grew on trees.
foraging fingers
sorting the harvest
seemingly untouched juneberry bush, after the harvest
I could really go for a slice of that right now! Where is the photo of all those stained fingers?
I am having a slice right now! I added a “red-handed” photo.
Very nice…now onto the next crop! For me, I’m discovering I have a couple mulberry trees at the new house. Now, what to do with them…
I’m really starting to mull over an Urban Forageing segment for the tv show now.
“mull over…” pun intended?
Love your adventures in june berries!
Thank you so very much.
The juneberries here, near Minot, North Dakota, are but a week or so from harvest.
A fellow told me about some stands that have never been touched, save the ever-present (and very protective) robins. I was warned that the robins will put up a good fight and was suggested to wear a hard hat for protection.
Warm Regards,
Rod
Hi Rod,
Minot! That’s way up there! Sounds like you’ll have a treasure trove of berries for the picking. You could put up a few cases of jam and wine if you wanted to. Here in Chicago the birds seem to go after the berries at the tops of the trees because when I approach them (the trees) they fly out the tops of them. The robins might be a little feistier up there in North Dakota so a hard hat may be a good precautionary measure.
Best,
art.