Yesterday I cycled over to the river to look for wild fruit. The tree
which produced so many black cherries last year has decided to take a
sabatical. I found a small bush full of cherries but what looked like a
large grey rock at its base had big black hornets coming out of it. There
was another bush just a few feet away half choked with vines but it had
cherries on it. Today I was back by car to gather cherries along with some
little green apples for pectin. I had just started gathering cherries when
I was surrounded by big black inquisitive hornets. I high-stepped it about
20 yards but one very inquisitive hornet came with me, so I high stepped
it another 20 years and it turned back. Circling back to this second
cherry bush I saw a big grey hornet's nest at it's base. Who would belive
it, hornets nests in two cherry bushes within a few feet of each other? I
guess hornets are not very territorial. I found another, bigger cherry
bush in the clearing completely covered in vines. After carefully
inspecting it for hornet's nests I spend an hour removing the vines and
gathered enough cherries for a few cups of jelly. Next year it should
still be free of vines and the other two should be free of hornets.
Gathering a bag of little green apples was less work and free of
surprises. The best part of the afternoon was stepping benind a bush to
change into swimsuit and then going for a refreshing dip in the river. The
swim suit is manditory as there is a public beach on the opposite shore.

At home I was surprized when the little green apple juice came out
blood red. I thought I had forgot to wash the jelly bag so I
washed the other one but the wash water stayed clear. Last year some
apple juice turned pink but nothing as dramatic as this deep red.

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William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
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"William R. Watt" wrote:

> Yesterday I cycled over to the river to look for wild fruit. (clipped nature
> adventure)
> William R Watt

Sounds like a bee-ceful day. I remember blackberrying as a teen. I remember the
laxative effects of same after too much blackberry pie! About the only wild fruit
around here is prickly pears (which have great color but not much flavor) and
mesquite pods, which I have not gotten around to jelling, yet. Not been up to much
lately, health a little suffering is.
Edrena