October 21, 2013

Oops, I guess it's been awhile since I updated this.  Nothing very exciting has been going on up here, except for the first snow that came on Saturday.  Didn't like that at all!  But with the snow came freezing temperatures and that's what the high bush cranberries need to sweeten up.  At least that's what I've read.

So I bet you're wondering what in the world are high bush cranberries?  Well, instead of me trying to explain them, here's a short explanation about them.  Last year we saw someone stop by and cut some off of our bushes so that's when we decided to figure out what we had that they wanted.  Hmmm, so those red berries are edible and are used for jelly, juice and sauce.  

I check out some recipes and knew I didn't want anything to do with making juice or jelly, but the sauce sounded easy enough.  Jim was all for it and he went out yesterday and picked 4 cups for the sauce.

See, they do look like cranberries, just a little smaller and redder.  I followed this simple recipe.

Simmered, smashed, strained, added the sweetness and cooled.  I tasted it after it cooled and it tastes like a combination of cranberries, cherries and rhubarb.  Quite tasty.

Then I found out that this sauce goes well with moose meat.  Okay, I'm plum out of moose and don't have any beef either.  I think it would taste great on ice cream, which I also don't have.  I guess I should've done a little more reading first, but now I know all about high bush cranberries or saskatoons.   Guess what's on my grocery list?  No not moose meat!

October 10, 2013

Another day, another batch of mushrooms.   I've never seen one like this before.  It has a hole in the center of it.  Sorry, it's kinda blurry.  Picture was taken shortly after my first cup of coffee and before I had breakfast.

I took this one yesterday of a clump at the base of a dead popple stump.

This is what it looked like today.  Apparently deer (or some other critters) like them.

Looks like some little critter took a couple bites out of this one.

One more, but this one is on a dead log.

And for something that's just pretty.  Look at that blue sky!

October 9, 2013

Mushrooms are popping up all over the place. I don't have a clue whether these are edible or poisonous and don't intend to find out!

October 3, 2013

On Tuesday we found more Chicken in the Woods mushrooms growing on the tree where we harvested some over a week ago.

I wanted to do so thing different with them, so I did a google search and found this recipe and decided to make it for supper.  I had almost all the ingredients and hoped that 5 hours of marinating would do...well, it was long enough and the end result was awesome!  

We've become somewhat obsessed with looking for them and were doing the happy dance yesterday when we spotted some growing on a tree down the road from us.  Too bad they were past their prime.  Besides looking for mushrooms, we've been enjoying the fall color, I really wish it would last longer.  Anyway, whîle out yesterday I got a picture of an eagle and deer along the same road.

And another wooly bear caterpillar. 

These leaves wanted to go for a ride with us.

Surprising how long they stuck to the window.

And this last picture is from one of my favorite places up here.  It's at Bear Lake...a beautiful spot with only one home on it. 

 

That's real wild rice growing in the water along most of the shoreline.  

It's raining now and is supposed to continue for most of the weekend.  That should take care of most of the leaves, but who know about the mushrooms!