The Serviceberry (Amelanchier spp.) is a widely distributed edible fruit tree which fills my heart as much as my belly. It’s just sweet enough, with berries just big enough, just in reach to make me so happy to come across. Sometimes we happen upon them wandering through the woods, sometimes we go visit our favourite individuals, sometimes we make detailed extensive maps of every tree the city has planted… or maybe I just do that.
To eat something builds relationship in a very particular way, which I appreciate, especially when that edible is shared by many species. We really become part of the broader ecosystem when we participate as other animals do, and if we choose to enter into that relationship in a reciprocal way we can begin to tend and propagate the ones we care for.
Serviceberries, Juneberry, Shadbush, Saskatoon, whatever we call them, our affinity with them grows as we get to know them more. That’s what this episode is all about - learning some of those more meticulous details to compliment our own personal relationships with the plants we hold so dear in our hearts… and bellies.
To learn more : Fruit and Seed profile of AmelanchierShrubs of Ontario by James H. Soper and Margaret L. Heimburger. Royal Ontario Museum, 1982.The Book of Forest and Thicket by John Eastman. Stackpole Books, 1992.American Wildlife & Plants : A Guide to Wildlife Food Habits by Alexander Martin, Herbert Zim, and Arnold Nelson. Dover, 1951.Growing Trees from Seed by Henry Kock. Firefly Books, 2016.Botany in a Day by Thomas J. Elpel. HOPS Press, 2006.