A lesser known offering from Robert Frost. I’m not sure what to think about it. It is, as usual for the author, full of imagery but it seems to be about two people planning to steal fruit from their neighbor. Did I get that right?By the way, “chewink” is an old name for the Eastern Towhee. This cute alliterative story about a… Continue Reading…
In his book Flower Lore, Rev. Hilderic Friend tells us that “The Whortlebury, emblem of Treason, growing in wastes, affords a juice which was often used in more dangerous times to stain and disfigure the face.” I’m not sure why “the emblem of treason” but the use of blueberries as a dye was apparently fairly common throughout history. Here is an… Continue Reading…
While the blueberry and the bilberry are used interchangeably in the kitchen, the bilberry has a definite edge in the pharmacy. The most obvious fieldmark (an easily recognizable characteristic identifying a plant or animal positively) between the two is that the flesh of a blueberry is green and the flesh of a bilberry is blue or purple. This indicates a much… Continue Reading…
Blueberries are and their relatives are very popular in the kitchen. My problem wasn’t finding enough good recipes, it was narrowing it down to a few. I gave up. The first mention of the bilberry in Europe was in the sixteenth century and of the blueberry in America in the late eighteenth. The closest thing I found to an early recipe… Continue Reading…
Vaccinium spp. are shrubs. Depending on the species they can grow anywhere from 1′ to 8′ tall. All of them require full sun and a well-drained soil with a P.H. of 4.5 to 5.5. Here’s some good basic growing information from the Minnesota Extension Office and here’s an article on how to prepare a bed and which amendments are best to… Continue Reading…
Blueberry Vaccinium spp Blueberry (V. corymbosum or V. ashei) Bilberry (V. myrtillus) Wild Blueberry (V. augustifolia) I have never tasted a bilberry, although I have tried its cousin, V. augustifolium or the low bush blueberry a.k.a. the wild blueberry. I must confess to not liking blueberries. The rest of my family likes them though, so every year I make blueberry jam… Continue Reading…
