The boys have been itching to use the flower press that our friend Krista gave us. It’s a beautiful wooden press. Handmade, even. Finn wanted to “smash plants” with it. There’s a reason we used to call that kid Finnzilla.
We went for a walk down to Suce Creek with the press, lunches, two old dogs, and a flower identification book. Along the way, I picked a couple of berries and leaves figuring I could verify their identity with the book when we got to the stream. I was fairly certain I knew what they were, but it doesn’t hurt to double check before feeding wild berries to your kids. I’m cautious like that.
The walk was relatively whine-free. No dogs wandered away in search of carcass. I sat in my Crazy Creek chair and watched the boys play in the creek while I looked up the berries. Unfortunately, I brought a flower book for the Pacific Northwest coast. Whoops. Fortunately, Saskatoon berries (or service berries) are found along the PNW coast as well as in the Rocky Mountains. But, some of the other plants I wanted to i.d. weren’t in there. Or else I am really bad with the plant i.d. these days…
On the walk back we stopped in a meadow and smashed plants. I collected bee balm flowers. And we collected the positively identified Saskatoon berries. I hope to get back up there in the next couple of days to get more. How fun would it be to make Saskatoon jam? Super fun.
