The Craftiest Workshop

We started our week on Sunday picking Haskaps at a u-pick about a half hour’s drive from our place. This Haskap farm has 57,000 Haskap bushes and they have several different varieties of Haskaps. If you are interested in owning a Haskap farm business, it is for sale and listed for $2,199,000. We prefer the sweeter haskaps so we had to walk from row 100 where the entrance is to row 33. It was fine on the way to pick but after picking for a good hour and a half in the hot sun, the walk back could have been shorter. These Indigo Haskaps bushes are lower to the ground and the berries are smaller than other Haskaps. We ended up sitting or squatting for most of the picking. Some other pickers nearby had brought camping chairs but they had to really bend at the waist.

We picked our two 4L pails worth and headed home. Picking anymore than that on a hot day, along with the bending, would have been challenging.

I froze 4 X 6cups of Haskaps in larger becel containers to be used for jam at a later date. Equal parts sugar and Haskaps with a bit of lemon juice is all you need for the jam. These berries are loaded with pectin. I also got a large freezer bags worth to use for other baking and smoothies.

I attempted dehydrating some of the Haskaps, just one tray’s worth, with the plan to make some berry powder. It took almost 24 hours in the dehydrator to get them dry enough. I pulsed the dry berries in my magic bullet till they turned to a powder. Not a big fan of the way it tastes as Haskaps are a tad sour to begin with. I suppose it would be ok with sweetened yogurt or on cereal if you added a bit of sugar. An experiment that I won’t likely try again.

We purchased some plants at the Canadian Tire greenhouse at 50% off this past week. I managed to keep some geraniums alive through the winter in the basement. We got those geraniums on clearance last summer so I figured we would get a few more. I bought scented ones this time; cinnamon, lime and citronella. They help to keep the bugs down out on the deck. We also bought two ground cherry plants. I had attempted to start my own indoors this spring but they didn’t make it. It is a neat plant with these husks that form around the fruit. Once the husks fall, they are ready and the fruit taste is supposed to be a tomato mixed with a pineapple.

Another experiment I tried was a success. Nescafé stopped selling their Iced Java coffee syrup that I have been using for making homemade iced cappuccinos. I came to the conclusion that if berry juice and sugar make berry syrup, the same must be true with coffee and sugar. I heated an extra strong cup of instant coffee (3 Tbsp of instant coffee grounds for a cup of water) with 1 cup of sugar, brought it to a boil and simmered about five minutes. I put it into a jar with a lid and popped it into the fridge after it had cooled a bit. We had our first iced Capps of the season yesterday with one Tbsp of syrup in each and it tasted perfect.

My wild flower garden was at the height of its splendor this week. Poppies, Bachelor Buttons, Baby’s Breath, Asters, and a few flowers I don’t know the name of. It brightens my day sitting on our small deck and seeing the swath of colour.
Although it takes a fair amount of weeding in the early spring to get to this plus a bit every week even now, it is worth it.

The other thing that got accomplished this week was mostly finishing the greenhouse. We used material from the storage shed we took down last summer plus glass that the previous owners had left. We didn’t even have to buy paint; it was left from what was used to paint the decks. The roof is 3/4 metal and 1/4 thick plastic sheeting. At the very least, the greenhouse will be used as a refuge for plants from the cold in early spring and from the winds for potted plants in the summer. It also gives me a spot to store things I often use in the garden. Once a counter workspace has been added, I plan to do my spring potting in there. Chris still has to make two doors and figure out a way to ventilate and move air around.

It felt like a productive week overall. There is always some kind of project to work on in the summer months. The focus for the next couple weeks will be berry picking.