Thursday, July 22, 2010

Scything

Made every one's commute to work a little more surreal this morning.

We live on a main road in town that a lot of people take to work each day. Combine that with deciding to scythe the chicory in the lawn as well as edging the weeds around the front yard garden. Not a sight you see on way to work very often, someone scything their lawn!

One of the walkers thought scything was how we kept our lawn cut. LOL! I told her that I was just cutting the thick weeds that the mower missed, I didn't want her misinformed. [not to mention telling inaccurate stories around the water cooler]

But truly what would you rather have your neighbour do? Lawn mowing and weed-whacking at 6 am? Or reel mowing and scything??

The later are so quite in comparison, not to mention eliminating the whole smell of gas and oil. I know which one the birds prefer!

Monday, July 19, 2010

When Raspberries Begin Turning Pink - Go Pick Saskatoons!


That is the way to remember when to search out these gems.

Last year it was too dry for a good picking of saskatoons, this year with all of the rain they are huge, like blueberries.

DS and I stopped along the side of a rural road and picked an ice-cream pailful today, we plan to pick more tomorrow. I'm trading driving lessons with him for his help picking. Dual purpose for our gas usage!

After a quick picking through and a wash they were popped into the freezer to await their future as muffins and pancake sauce.



One funny ... I was trying to find out if drying saskatoons is viable. Are they too seedy or are they just right for a late winter addition to my morning granola?

Googling this lead to wonderful gems such as, "Drying Characteristics of Saskatoon Berries under Microwave and Combined Microwave-Convection Heating" not to mention, "Chemical Composition of Saskatoon Berries (Amelanchier alnifolia Nutt.)" and let's not forget , "it is clear that the saskatoon berry exhibits antioxidant activity based on its anthrocyanin and phenolic composition..."

Whoa People!!! All I wanted was a simple answer to a basic question. Is it worthwhile to dry saskatoons????

The best answer? ... Well the 'O Gourmet' website tells us, "The Saskatoon berry was of significant economic importance to the Plains Indians who would sun-dry the fruit. The berry was an important ingredient in pemmican" and we all know what a hot seller pemmican is down at 7-11!

I even phoned a saskatoon loving local locavore to ask the now nagging question in search of the elusive answer and her reply... never tried it! A.R.G. is all I can say.

I now have a cup of saskatoons in my fruit dryer, I will be posting the answer to the question.... maybe Google can get a life then ;o) [or at least let people know yea or nay without having to read doctoral theses!]

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Edited to add:

I think I dried them too long. Little pebbles. And they are seedy. Hmmmm. I'll have to try again next year and see if this can be done well.