But before we reached Kootenay
Lake we stopped to visit Duck
Lake Berry Orchard located down on the flats.
Picking
red currants at Duck Lake Berry Orchard
Duck Lake Berry Orchard specialized in currants,
saskatoons and jostaberrys. Saskatoons were sold as fresh fruit but most of the
currants and jostaberrys were made into jams, jellies and syrups in their own
kitchen.
These small red berries are "red currants".
Jostaberries
at Duck Lake Berry Orchard
And these grape size berries
are jostaberries.
Jostaberry is a new berry that is a cross between a gooseberry
and a black currant. The cross is a totally new berry that combines the best qualities
of both the gooseberry and currant.
The Jostaberry has a flavor resembling
a gooseberry with just a hint of the black currant.
One good thing about
the plant is the absence of gooseberry thorns.
Saskatoon
berries at Duck Lake Berry Orchard
These
are saskatoon berries.
The
saskatoon is also known as a saskatoonberry or
Juneberry, is a type of serviceberry
native to many Canadian provinces as well as
the northwestern and northcentral
United States. The plants we saw were 3 to 5 feet in height.
The small purple
berries, ripen in June and July.
The berries are the size of blueberries and
are almost as sweet.
Fresh berries picked this morning at Duck Lake Berry Orchard
The
berries are consumed fresh as well as made into several
types of foodstuffs,
including pies, jams, wines, cider, beers and
sugar-infused berries similar
to dried cranberry used for cereals, trail
mix and snack foods.
Joyce
took this picture of saskatoon berries being readied for the freezer where they
will remain until made into jams and syrups. These berries were picked by workers
this morning. They only pick berries in the morning, stopping picking operations
when the berries get warm.
Canadian
lumber mill
This
lumber mill was down the street from the berry orchard.
Old country store
We
stopped by this old country store in one of the small communities north of Creston.
