The Quiet Wonder of the Amélanchier

A fruit, a memory, a practice of reciprocity

First to Bloom

I first heard of the amélanchier through my foraging bible: Cueillir la Forêt by Ariane and Gerald Le Gal. Turns out our coastal paradise is full of them.

They are the first to flower in spring, bringing delicateness to a still rugged landscape. Their generous fruits mature over several weeks, bringing joy to little eyes discovering them and little hands harvesting them.

❉ As mentioned in the book, it's best to eat only a small amount raw. The rest? Make a sumptuous jam, a simple syrup, a wine or even a shrub with local apple cider vinegar (a wild vinegar-based cordial).

One year, I made a spruce and amélanchier shrub and stirred it with Piger Henricus gin into a decadent martini. Maybe you'd like to know how?

(In any case, do not bring the vinegar into the winery!)

Reciprocity and Abundance

Then came that essay by Robin Wall Kimmerer for the Emergence Magazine podcast. [Go and immerse yourself.]

She has since published a book called The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World. Not many days pass without me thinking or talking about her vision: an economy of abundance, where giving and receiving are part of a living cycle. Far from the scarcity economy we're taught to live in.

This year, our harvest was so abundant.

Enough to leave plenty for the birds, the bears, the neighbours and to make two micro-batches of jam.

From Forest to Fermentation

Where am I going with this?

I love amélanchier.

You might know them as serviceberries or saskatoon berries.

I once had the chance to create saskatoon berry wine and mead in Grande Prairie, Alberta. The acidity was balanced by adding local crab apples.

It was divine.

What About You?

Have you ever worked with amélanchier?

Would you like to?

Maybe you'd like to make something together one day.

Want to Explore What's Possible?

If you're curious about working with wild fruits, turning a small harvest into something bottled and beautiful, or simply want to talk through where your project could go next, I'm here.

➺ Book your alignment call

A no-commitment 15-minute session designed to:

• Review your current production reality or project direction

• Identify key challenges

• Clarify your most aligned next step

• Determine whether deeper support would be helpful at this stage

[Book here.]

Make wine like no one's watching. But take notes like a pro.