Yesterday’s post reminded me of berries and the many different kinds we had growing up back home. One of the lesser known, were what we, at least, called magna berries. I’ve mentioned them to others over the years, but I don’t recall most having a different or in fact any name for them.
That’s likely because the creeping snowberry as its truly known are not harvested much. And that’s likely because the berries are tiny, so small we often called them ant’s eggs, because they resembled, well ant’s eggs. They also usually were underneath their vines and hard to see at all.
There was an old slide path near my house, what we called the school garden path, that joined on to the “old road” forming a fork encircling the old garden. On the slide path, hugging the tops of the bank were many of these vines.
They have a distinct wintergreen smell and flavor, and I once tried to pick some hoping to persuade mom to make some jelly or jam from them. But, after what felt like forever, I only had a teacup full, and I gave it up for a bad job. Just too tiny and not abundant enough.
That said, it was always a tasty treat when walking out from trouting to try and get a few of these little mints!
Raised in outport Newfoundland in a town of 65 people, I pursued a post secondary diploma in Information Technology right out of High School.
I’ve always been a geek at heart, but yet I love the rural life I grew up with. Fishing, hunting, camping and the great outdoors are still loves of mine, even if I don’t pursue them as often as I once did. Sports were always a big part of our lives, and I played many (badly) and loved them all.
