Found a chokecherry tree

[JennyC]

Sorry, but I keep finding fruit trees. This one is actually not that close to the house, so I have an excuse for not knowing it was there. Out in the middle of a pasture, and I knew a tree was there, but I'd never walked close to it until yesterday. It's definitely Prunus virginiana, not one of the sweeter cherries. The fruit is ripe, cherry-tasting with a bitter aftertaste, but sweet enough to eat raw, which my wild food books tell me is a lucky find in a chokecherry. The books also say the fruit makes good jelly or syrup, so that's what I'll be doing -- maybe in the winter with frozen fruit, since I'm running into a real crunch with harvesting time right now.

[applestar]

I'm picturing you with a map -- the rolled up handwritten kind, dashed lines for trails/paths, with X's, little sketches of trees and bushes, marking all the "treasures" you've been finding on the farm.

[JennyC]

You know, that's not at all a bad idea! I don't have any sort of map, just fields and trees and memory.