Juneberries are the best

Created June 3, 2026. Updated June 4, 2026.

I’m meeting a lot of juneberry trees around the neighborhood, and a lot of them are bearing delicious fruits this (2026) spring! I’ve been visiting them often to pick fruits and I inevitably end up talking to the neighbors too. One neighbor puts bird figurines and all sorts of trinkets on their tree. One neighbor remembers when they first planted their juneberry 14 years ago when they bought their house. Some neighbors get curious when they see me picking fruit and it’s fun because I get to talk to them about juneberries!

I was also reading the book called The Serviceberry (juneberries have a lot of names: shadbush, shadwood or shadblow, serviceberry or sarvisberry (or just sarvis), juneberry, saskatoon, sugarplum, wild-plum or chuckley pear) as well when I had the chance, and it’s so lovely to read about the importance of these berries to some of the indigenous peoples of Turtle Island. They would make “energy bars” called pemmican which have a very long shelf life and doesn’t need refrigiration. They’re also used to indicate time since juneberries are calendar plants:

Calendar plants like Serviceberry are important for synchronizing the seasonal rounds of traditional Indigenous People, who move in an annual cycle through their homelands to where the foods are ready. Instead of changing the land to suit their convenience, they changed themselves. Eating with the seasons is a way of honoring abundance, by going to meet it when and where it arrives. A world of produce warehouses and grocery stores enables the practice of having what you want when you want it.

In the past I’ve made jam that’s a mix of different fruits, but I wanted to try just juneberries this time and it’s really delicious! For the jam, I followed this recipe: Saskatoon Berry Jam: The Traditional Canadian Recipe. I made enough to share with friends and neighbors!

Juneberries in different shades of red hanging on a tree branch.

Frozen juneberries that are about to be cooked down into jam.

A bottled juneberry jam. It has a deep red color and it fills the jar to the brim.

I had enough left over that I could make some pie as well! I followed this recipe for the pie: Traditional Canadian Prairie Wild Saskatoon Berry Pie.

A freshly-baked juneberry pie sitting on the stove to cool off. You can clearly see the berries because the pie doesn't have a top crust.

Ah, I wish juneberries were around all year, but I guess that’s what makes them special. It feels good to receive such a wonderful gift this time of the year and to be able to share that gift with other people.