Saskatoon Boom

Despite the flirtation with further drought, and devastating forest fires to the north and east, we have actually had quite a lovely spring here in our part of the Peace Country. The large amount of east winds over the last half of winter meant that much snow drifted up into the brush and then slowly melted, leading to the potential for a bumper crop in saskatoon berries this year. Fence and brush lines are white with saskatoon blossoms, more than I ever remember seeing before. My parents don't remember so many before either.

This is just one patch of berry bushes just beyond our property. I may upload a video I took while driving slowly, just to give a better idea of the saskatoon explosion happening this year.


A big difference this year from larger snowfall years in the past is probably the fact that we have had no frost this spring(a very rare situation) so provided we continue to get some precipitation here and there we should be able to harvest a huge amount. I have been checking fence over at the summer pasture half section in preparation for moving some of the herd over there, and it looks like there are a lot more berries on the way there.

For those who do not know of the Saskatoon berry, it is a delicious purple little berry kind of like a blueberry. Apparently it is full of anti-oxidants and it also happens to taste amazing. Picking sessions always result in a group of people with full bellies and purple lips and fingertips.

The nice and slow spring thaw, combined with warm sunny days and frost free nights have led to plenty of wild flowers as well. This meadow looks like it has been covered in hail but they are actually tiny white flowers, perhaps some kind of buttercup.


The haze that can be seen in the distance is smoke from the aforementioned forest fires. We have had some good moisture over the last couple of days so I am hoping this put at least a dent in all the burning. I have not written about it but some readers may be aware that a small city about 2 hours from here was 40% consumed by wildfire just about two weeks ago. I cannot begin to imagine what those folks have been through but it certainly does leave me thankful for what we have.