Greenwater Report for July 16, 2001

The Greenwater Report for July 16, 2001

Greenwater Provincial Park - Monday, July 16, 2001 - by: Gerald Crawford

real lake
weekend
July 15th, 2001: This was a real lake weekend, with high temperatures, moderate winds and plenty of sun. There was a lot of boating activity on the lake, mostly powerboats pulling various devices behind, and loads of people swimming or sunning at the beach. I believe the fishermen go as far from the main beach as they can get, though there was some casting off our dock.

distant
thunder
I thought we were going to get a good, old-fashioned thunderstorm this evening, after everyone had left. We even took our supper out on the deck to watch it, but as of writing this it hasn't developed into anything interesting a few flashes and some distant thunder, but nothing spectacular and no rain. The sky is full of gorgeous colors, though.

bare
spots
We went to Tisdale and Melfort last Tuesday and were surprised at how spotty the crops were. One field would look quite normal, while another would be short and with lots of bare spots. One farmer along the highway was cutting down his crop, likely for feed, but it didn't look as if it would be much good for that, either. Even some test plots showed unevenness within the plots.

Saskatoon
berry
picking
It's Saskatoon berry picking time! Earlier, it looked like a terrific crop; then when we started picking them, there were lots, but very uneven, both in size and in ripeness. The same tree had some nice, plump, sweet ones right beside some green and red ones. We blamed it on the drought. We managed to pick a couple of ice-cream pails full, though, besides the ones we ate. Then, yesterday we went out again and the berries seemed to have multiplied over night, and were hanging down like grapes. We got two or three more pails full. It seems we can go over the same trees two or three times; it is seven years since our last good Saskatoon crop, so we will pick lots while we can. Doreen freezes them in 2-cup bags. She said two bags will make a big pie, so we must have enough for lots of big pies. She made some yesterday, and they were heavenly

types
of
berries
A few years ago, in this column, we had a discussion about the various types of berries and other tree fruits to be found in Saskatchewan. We had feed-back from several readers, adding some we had missed, and giving local terms for some others. Well, Doreen was browsing through a cook-book called Heart & Soul of Bread & Jam, by Chris Bartsch of Bjorkdale, and found a couple I don't think either of us had heard of before. One was Mooseberries, and the recipe starts out by saying: "This wild fruit is used with fowl like cranberries." There was no further description. The other new one was Mayhaw, with no description at all. I don't think it means hawthorn, as hawthorn jelly is a separate recipe. Two other rare ones are Yellowberries, and Barberries; I think I may have heard of them, but haven't a clue what they are.

sweet
clover
Doreen was getting quite concerned about the tall sweet clover along the highway; it was about three feet high, and in a car one couldn't see into the ditches, even in daylight. Doreen was just about to phone the Highways department, when they came along and cut it down. I guess they must have known that she would be phoning pretty soon. We feel much more secure now.

quilting
room
We were in Kelvington on Thursday and Friday. Jenny is revamping her store so we gave her a hand to install some shelving in the Men's Wear department, and, of course, to give her lots of advice. She is making room for a quilting room, which will be where the work wear was, and is bringing in a line of sewing machines. That should be an interesting development.

Gerald B. Crawford
Box 100, Chelan, SK S0E 0N0 (306) 278-3423 Check out my Webpage: http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/crawg


The Greenwater Report for July 16, 2001
Greenwater Provincial Park - Monday, July 16, 2001 - by: Gerald Crawford
real lake weekend	July 15th, 2001: This was a real lake weekend, with high temperatures, moderate winds and plenty of sun. There was a lot of boating activity on the lake, mostly powerboats pulling various devices behind, and loads of people swimming or sunning at the beach. I believe the fishermen go as far from the main beach as they can get, though there was some casting off our dock.

distant thunder	I thought we were going to get a good, old-fashioned thunderstorm this evening, after everyone had left. We even took our supper out on the deck to watch it, but as of writing this it hasn't developed into anything interesting a few flashes and some distant thunder, but nothing spectacular and no rain. The sky is full of gorgeous colors, though.

bare spots	We went to Tisdale and Melfort last Tuesday and were surprised at how spotty the crops were. One field would look quite normal, while another would be short and with lots of bare spots. One farmer along the highway was cutting down his crop, likely for feed, but it didn't look as if it would be much good for that, either. Even some test plots showed unevenness within the plots.

Saskatoon berry picking	It's Saskatoon berry picking time! Earlier, it looked like a terrific crop; then when we started picking them, there were lots, but very uneven, both in size and in ripeness. The same tree had some nice, plump, sweet ones right beside some green and red ones. We blamed it on the drought. We managed to pick a couple of ice-cream pails full, though, besides the ones we ate. Then, yesterday we went out again and the berries seemed to have multiplied over night, and were hanging down like grapes. We got two or three more pails full. It seems we can go over the same trees two or three times; it is seven years since our last good Saskatoon crop, so we will pick lots while we can. Doreen freezes them in 2-cup bags. She said two bags will make a big pie, so we must have enough for lots of big pies. She made some yesterday, and they were heavenly

types of berries	A few years ago, in this column, we had a discussion about the various types of berries and other tree fruits to be found in Saskatchewan. We had feed-back from several readers, adding some we had missed, and giving local terms for some others. Well, Doreen was browsing through a cook-book called Heart & Soul of Bread & Jam, by Chris Bartsch of Bjorkdale, and found a couple I don't think either of us had heard of before. One was Mooseberries, and the recipe starts out by saying: "This wild fruit is used with fowl like cranberries." There was no further description. The other new one was Mayhaw, with no description at all. I don't think it means hawthorn, as hawthorn jelly is a separate recipe. Two other rare ones are Yellowberries, and Barberries; I think I may have heard of them, but haven't a clue what they are.

sweet clover	Doreen was getting quite concerned about the tall sweet clover along the highway; it was about three feet high, and in a car one couldn't see into the ditches, even in daylight. Doreen was just about to phone the Highways department, when they came along and cut it down. I guess they must have known that she would be phoning pretty soon. We feel much more secure now.

quilting room	We were in Kelvington on Thursday and Friday. Jenny is revamping her store so we gave her a hand to install some shelving in the Men's Wear department, and, of course, to give her lots of advice. She is making room for a quilting room, which will be where the work wear was, and is bringing in a line of sewing machines. That should be an interesting development.

	Gerald B. Crawford Box 100, Chelan, SK S0E 0N0 (306) 278-3423 Check out my Webpage: http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/crawg