wild elderberry

Tonight’s walk was through Fort Creek Park.

At the end of the walking path, a bee flew into my lower lip. (who ever heard of a bee just flying into a person) I quickly brushed it off, but not before it stung me. It didn’t get a full bite, and it didn’t leave behind a stinger, so my lip never swelled up, but it hurt. My cousin Rose had some salve and that helped to lessen the pain. Amazing, I’m walking and a bee runs into me.

I’ve never been on the Creek trail in summer; the conservation area is totally filled in with wild greenery; it’s like walking through the woods, but you’re in the middle of town.

The red berries in the above pic and the shrub they grow on are everywhere; they were all over Whitefish Island; they were on the side of the road up at Red Rock where Connie has her cottage; and they were all through Fort Creek Park. It’s wild elderberry – Sambucus racemosa.

The Italian liqueur Sambuca is made from elderberries. How come it’s taken me all these years to discover that fancy Sambuca is made from the lowly elderberry; and that the red variety is ubiquitous in Northern Ontario where thousands of Italian immigrants live? Not one of these transplants has ever identified the berries or explained that his/her preferred espresso sweetener is made from this wild fruit.