Elderberries, Pizza and Fall Color
Upholding a few years long tradition, the procurement of elderberries happened on Sunday, October 1, 2023. Kashaya and I left the farm around 7:30am, and arrived north east of Covelo, at Rancho Baldo at the prescribed, 10am. And yet, that wasn’t the final destination! We transferred bins and lunches and extra layers of clothes, then climbed in with Wendy, Linda and Kate, to drive another few miles up another 1000 feet (close to 5800’) to Mare Basin. Kashaya rode “shotgun” since she was the youngest, and none of the rest of us felt like climbing in and out of the pick-up to un-lock, open and close the 4 gates. But what a gorgeous day! Wendy stopped at Bear Wallow, to change out the disc on the game camera (yes, she has pictures of bears truly wallowing in the water there!) We began our picking…. thinking that the umbels were immense, and easy to clip. But the idea of even more bushes and berries kept us to our goal….. Chris met us at the campsite, and indicated that we needn’t go any higher. The bushes nearby were loaded!
And indeed, they were! Everywhere we looked, the greyish berries were dripping off the bushes in clumps so large they were actually heavy! We didn’t need loppers…. we didn’t need the stepping stool…. we didn’t even need someone to hold down the branch while someone else did the cutting! It was nirvana of the elderberry kind! We had our buckets filled in less than an hour… and wanted to pick more! However, even I, who borrowed three more bins than I brought, quit. The picking is the easy part….. the stripping, cooking, straining then making jelly…. are far more time-consuming.
Since, I’ve processed one bin…. 29 jars of luscious Elderberry Jelly! At that rate, I should be able to make 319 jars with what we brought home.
A couple of weeks ago, we hosted a Pizza Birthday Party for friends, and discovered that Carrotina, who has been helping us all summer cleaning cabins and houses, had a hidden talent for stretching pizza dough. After that, I don’t think any of us want to make pizza without her!
Fall is upon us…..
Virgina Creeper climbing into the walnut tree on the Apple Tree Lawn.
The zinnias are still blooming, the tomatoes continue to put out more, the peppers have been stripped of colored fruit at least three times, and yet, there are still hundreds more hanging on. We’re prepping for Cowboy Poetry, October 14. (emandal.com/cowboy-poetry) I just took the rolling pins in to be engraved for the winners of the Apple Pie Throwdown. We have 10 artists coming out to show their work. The auction is shaping up. Casey and Tom will put up the stage next week. Looking forward to an amazing story-teller/songster, Andy Hedges….. and two veteran performers, Sourdough Slim and Robert Armstrong. If only the weather cooperates! Keeping my fingers crossed!
