Dreaming Bakeapples

Hello my lovelies!

Here we are... entering the LAST week of July!!!! C.R.A.Z.Y. The summer is wizzing by far too quickly for my liking I think. This applies fully to this past weekend. It blew by way too fast. This is probably because I scarcely sat down the entire weekend!!! Bakeapple season has arrived here on the Island a whole 2 weeks early!!! So the push was on to pick as many as possible within two days before the whole lot went to mush.

Now some of you probably think that you know what a bakeapple should look like based off the name. The truth is names can be deceiving. Bakeapples are these wonderful little titbits of juicy-ness. 

Yup that's a berry. The closest thing I can compare it to is a blackberry in terms of size and shape. Although they generally don't get quite as big. I really haven't the slightest clue as to why they're called bakeapples simply because they taste nothing like a baked apple. However, I digress... that is their name and so it shall be :)

Either way, these berries are what you call a hot commodity in Newfoundland. Going for $50+ a gallon. There are a couple reasons for this: 

(a) Some years there are none

(b) Some years they are sparse

(c) Time to clean all the berries (we're talkin' hours of 'shucking' the leaves and 2 water baths)

(d) The FLIES (they'll suck you dry given the chance!)

and not to mention this:

(e) 

and this:


(f)

This is the terrain one must navigate to reach the treasured little berries. We call them the barrens. Damn beautiful and a sight to behold and doubly hard to traverse.  To say every inch of me is hurting right now is a tremendous understatement. I feel like someone could snap me in half mearly by poking me... BUT, it's all worth it firstly, for the time I was able to spend with my grandparents and secondly, for the berries. 

My Nan in particular anticipates berry picking season ALL YEAR LONG. SO how could I possibly say no when she called me up at work (something she rarely does) and asks me to go with her!!! I excitedly agree to go and thus there I was on Saturday looking like a chic trucker with my pants tucked into my rubber boots, a slight sweater (the less surface area exposed the better... flies, need I say more?), and of course the token trucker hat emblazoned with 'Labatt Blue' on the front. Now that trucker hat is important! I didn't wear it just to look amazing ;) It helped to keep the sun out of my face and the flies off my head, this is very important considering the sun was blazing both days with temps reaching 25+ degrees C. Thankfully, the wind was gusting away at 50km/hr, which was a god send. It allowed us to keep cool and kept most of the flies at bay. 

life saving hat look-a-like

I'm tellin' ya - I was a beauty in this get up hehe.

So off I went over the barrens and we picked, picked and picked to our hearts content. We managed to pick 7 gallons between the both of us from 2pm Saturday to 4pm Sunday. 

Here's the final product after all the picking, shucking and washing!

Bath Time!

All packed up and some in the pot waiting to be made into JAM :)

I'm very proud and will no doubt be seeing bakeapples in my sleep for the next week or more. Now I'm off to make some jam and some bakeapple cheese cake :) :) :)  YUMMMMMMMMMM. Don't YOU wish you were in my kitchen NOW lol!

OH and before I go, I did manage to get a bit of stitching in believe it or not! I finished off the stitching for my upcoming exchange (now just to finish it off) and started this gem from my previous exchange with Loretta. I've got plans for this one too ;)

You know... I've just realized I really do keep myself very busy don't I? AH well, it's all a bit of fun isn't it ;)

Ciao for now,

Melissa