Mother Earth News - Mother Earth News 2002

The July and November 2001 issues carried conflicting reader reports about highbush cranberries (Cranberry Catharsis and Learning to Love Highbush Cranberries). Such misunderstanding occurs because the common name highbush cranberry actually refers to three different species: Viburnum opulus, V. trilobum and V. edule.

John Venable, who found highbush cranberries to taste horrible, lives where V. opulus, an introduced European shrub, grows. The fruit of this plant is indeed unpalatable: I dont even consider it to be edible. The nearly identical V. trilobum, or American highbush cranberry, grows in the northern United States and the southern half of Canada. Its fruit closely resembles the true cranberry in flavor. Every year I make lots of juice, jelly and sauce from them. Unfortunately, this species sometimes hybridizes with its distasteful European cousin (especially near urban areas), polluting its pure flavor. The confusion between these species isnt helped by the fact that many botanists dont separate them. One large nursery even sells the European kind labeled as the American V. trilobum. In the November issue, Kate McLaughlin wrote from Alaska, where V. edule (called highbush cranberry or squashberry) grows. This species is held in the highest esteem of the three. No wonder her family raves about her jelly.

This confusion has been going on for decades. Now perhaps you can understand why botanists stick with scientific names.

If you want to try making jam, jelly, sauce or juice from American highbush cranberries (V. edule), here are some important tips:

• Taste first! If the cranberries taste like medicine, then they arent food. They should taste like cranberries. Good and bad bushes can be side by side.
• Harvest after the berries have turned red, but before they have softened. Freeze and thaw, and they will soften so you can juice them.
• Never boil with the seeds in. While American highbush cranberries may look and taste like cranberries, they do not have the small seeds of real cranberries, but a large single seed. The seed is very bitter and should be removed from the berry before cooking.
• Remove all stems before crushing or pressing.
• For a cleaner, prettier and better-flavored juice, let the juice settle in the refrigerator a few days. Then siphon or pour off the top juice, discarding the sludge that settles to the bottom.

If you would like to grow your own true, great-tasting native Viburnum edule, you can order from the following company: Frasers Thimble Farms, Salt Spring Island, BC, Canada.

We have raised show rabbits for seven years and have had wonderful experiences with my daughters showing them. The major downside, as with all livestock, is manure management and flies. Parasitic flies reduce the nasty fly population, but have to be bought every year and are expensive. Weve tried chickens, but even Bantics with clipped wings would flap their way up and roost on the cages. Usually they roost right over the water bottle or dish and yuck! This year we took a double path to a fly-free, cleaner environment. We put stall mats under the rows of cages (25 to 30 cages) so raking and shoveling were easier, and we had a cleaner floor when we were done with that once-a-month job.

We bought Silkie Bantam chickens who do a very poor job of flying because their feathers are hairy instead of stiff. They do hop and flap a lot and have made it to the top of a closed garbage can with the help of a cage left beside the can. But none have made it to the top of the cage.

I started with five chickens, which were too many, but a marauding raccoon took three, including the rooster. Two hens are just perfect for a 20x20 rabbit house. Once or twice a week they get out and see the world, and I frequently drop them some comfrey greens while feeding the rabbits.

Besides the reduction - probably 80 percent fewer flies compared to last year - my chickens make me happy.

DIANA MOORE CASON
Snohomish, Washington