The saskatoons hung in such great purple bunches along the road allowance that the pail was full before the anti-picking pain set in.  |  File photo

Berry bounty not always worth cheering about

An abundance of saskatoons in the family berry patch meant pies needed to be made, but that’s where the trouble started

I am sure my mother dragged me off to the wild saskatoon berry patch long before I was off the bottle, and she probably put me down on an anthill by mistake, because my earliest recollection of berry picking is being eaten alive by bugs. Along with the hot humid atmosphere of the bush were […] Read more

A number of Rig Hand bottles of alcohol sit on a table. The bottle is in the shape of a locally-well-known old oil derrick.

Alta. distillery makes use of local crops

Rig Hand Craft Distillery goes hard on local. The distilling house makes several types of brum, a rum-like drink made from Alberta beet sugar, vodka made with local grains, and saskatoon berry-flavoured mead. Rig Hand has been in the distilling business for eight years, producing those products and more out of a location in Nisku, […] Read more