Rosehips and Cranberries

As autumn begins, our property takes on a whole different appearance.  Gone are many of the bright green leaves.  The wild roses have long since died and even the currants (few that they were) have all been eaten.

What's left are lots and lots and lots of rose hips.  I've tried making jams and sauces from them, but the results were less than stellar.  While still very high in vitamin C, wild rosehips are just not as dense as those from cultivated roses.  They are quite pretty though and I do tend to pick & eat a few every day.

Also in abundance around my house are high bush cranberries.  The stench aroma of them as they ripen is quite apparent.  If one has plans to use them for jam (I do not), it's best to pick them after the first frost.  They are really tart and require lots of sugar to make them edible. 

We don't get the spectacular colors of the changing leaves up here in Alaska.  There simply is not the variety of trees here to generate lots of colors.  The trees we do have mostly turn yellow, which is pretty, but not amazingly brilliant as autumn in the northeast.  I admit to missing that about New York and New England.

We are off to Fairbanks early on Thursday morning for our Bad Girls of the North craft show this coming weekend.  See you next week!

Cranberries and Rosehips

I would guess that about half of the leaves have turned golden and have already fallen to the ground. Yesterday evening, while walking Xena around the backyard, the jewel-like clusters of cranberries screamed "taste me". Well, I know better. They are tarter than tart and will make you scrunch your face up in a nasty grimace. I prefer to just look at them. They are beautiful.


During the early summer, our yard is full of wild roses. Now, those roses have been replaced with rose hips. They too are lovely to look at, in their beautiful redness. Unlike the cranberries, these actually taste pretty good and are full of vitamin C.

And here's a close up of some rose hips.