The harvest season has begun in earnest at our house with a quick flurry of honeyberries followed by the start of the juneberry and raspberry seasons with a few pie cherries thrown in for good luck.
I must start with a thank you to the bumblebees. As far as I can tell, they are the only pollinators of honeyberries and the principal pollinator of the raspberries. I'm not as sure about the juneberries but they probably help there too.
Way a minute, you muse. Honeyberries? What are honeyberries? A berry that tastes like honey?
Honeyberries in fruit. Photo by iamsch FCC
I could have referred to them as haskap (Japanese) or zhimolost (Russian) and that would have given you a hint or really annoyed you with my showing off. The berries are circumpolar and in the honeysuckle family. For some years they have been sold by nurseries such as Jung's or Stark's. They have the following endearing qualities: very winter and cold hardy with blossoms surviving 20 degrees; first fruit to ripen—beating the rest of the berries by two weeks; a great resource for bumblebees—the blossoms are out as the bees emerge and they love them; attractive and well behaved—unlike other honeysuckles, they don't spread. And they taste great! They're about the size and color of blueberries but oblong in shape. Tarter than a blueberry, my wife Sally proved this spring they make a wonderfully juicy and flavorful cobbler (what more need be said?). And the berry on top, like blueberries, they have excellent nutritional value.
Juneberries, photo by Jeena Paradies FCC
Juneberries (also known as serviceberries, shadberries, or saskatoons) are native trees. It blossoms early and is important to many pollinators. Its fruit is not as well known or utilized as many others. It ripens in June or early July in southern Wisconsin and is about the size of a blueberry. Pick them when they are purplish in color. They are milder in flavor than blueberries. Some accounts claim they are nutritionally superior to the powerhouse blueberries. They freeze well. Sally will mix them with yogurt and other fresh fruit. If I'm very lucky, they find their way into one of her mixed berry pies. They are a small, extremely attractive tree with heavy and early blossoms. Rabbits love them. Don't plant them without some protective fencing.
Bees and berries—let's stick with alliteration and the B's. How about the black bullhead? This is one of three native species of bullheads in Wisconsin. It tolerates a variety of water conditions and can be found in many ponds, lakes, streams and rivers. It can grow over a foot long and is delicious (sort of a theme for this column). Black is a bit misleading. Its dorsal area is quite dark but, to my aging eyes, more olive than black. It often has a yellow belly.
Many anglers look down their noses at the black bullhead and their cousins. They are not our most handsome fish and can thrive in less than pristine conditions (a lot less, really). But they are a native species, who occupy important niches in our waters, and saved many a fishing trip for many fishers, young and old.
A small black bullhead, photo by Brett Albanese (Georgia DNR – Wildlife Resources)
Why, you might legitimately wonder, is a Madison Audubon blogger going on about black bullheads? Patience, dear reader. As we were closing on the new Ostego Marsh property, Mark Martin ran into some very nice folks, one of whom had just caught a giant black bullhead from that pond. Coincidentally, he later learned from the DNR fish biologist for that area that someone has submitted a possible state record black bullhead from that area. Could Ostego Marsh be the home of the state record black bullhead? We did not buy the land at Ostego Marsh to support a black bullhead fishery but I still think this is a pretty neat possibility. For me it's a reminder that you just never know what native species of flora or fauna you can find thriving in unexpected places. The Madison Audubon staff and board will have to decide how the public can use Ostego Marsh, but I hope that folks will be able to drop a worm before a hungry black bullhead.
There's another connection to fishing with Ostego Marsh. Jerry Martin is a great Midwestern conservationist and benefactor of Madison Audubon. He has helped us purchase many key properties and donated $50,000 toward the purchase of the 36 acres at Ostego Marsh, called the Reierson parcel. Mr. Martin also enjoys fishing and is one of the country's best collectors of antique lures. If you ever travel to Bayfield County, find CTH H between Iron River and Delta. Stop at Inch Lake. Mr. Martin donated that lake and the surrounding 300 acres to the DNR. Now a State Natural Area, it's open to the public. Only non-motorized boats are allowed so paddling is wonderful there. You'll see loons and bald eagles and lots of other neat birds (wonderful fishing too; strictly catch and release). This is one of several properties in Wisconsin and Minnesota that Mr. Martin has donated to preserve natural resources and to allow access to all of us.
Otsego Marsh, Madison Audubon photo
And now to the pitch: please think of joining Mr. Martin in helping MAS purchase the land at Ostego Marsh and other wonderful lands. Visit "Your Piece of the Puzzle," our fund-raising campaign. Becky Abel, our director of philanthropy, does a way better job than me of describing some of the native and in one or two cases rare plants and animals we've already discovered on the land and our plans to fully restore it. She's also devised a fun way to contribute—who doesn't love a puzzle?
Have a happy and safe 4th of July. Please be careful. I just learned that a wonderful colleague is recovering from COVID-19. In our concern over the mortality associated with this virus, we can too easily forget how severe the non-fatal attacks can be. This disease hit my colleague hard and in a variety of ways and she still faces a long recovery.
Take care,
Written by Topf Wells, Madison Audubon board member and advocacy committee chair
Cover photo by Hirotomo Oi
