Voters OK sale of Claverack firehouse

ONE OF THE LOVELY SIGNS of spring is the shad tree, also called downy serviceberry, shadblow, juneberry, shadbush, sarvis-tree or serviceberry, Saskatoon, shadwood, sugarplum or wild-plum. There are at least 20 species included under the genus Amelanchier and many shad trees are genetic combinations of them. The tree or bush trunks are gray, and white flowers cover the branches in early spring, as in my photo. They belong to the rose family and in June produce small, sweet edible fruits about 1/3” in diameter. Native Americans ate them and taught the early settlers to use them too.

Birds usually eat the berries before we can collect them. The seeds pass through the birds and are left along hedgerows and other woodland areas to produce more trees. There is a whole row of shad trees that grow at the sides of the old road that once carried my ancestors along the edge of our farm and over to Harlemville to the store and the Methodist Church. My father let them grow, and each year they welcome spring. In the fall the leaves turn bright yellow to red.

Plant life is blooming early this year and we all are wondering what this will do to the birds and others that eat early fruits. We have the likelihood of frost until Memorial Day, and this could damage many things, including our apple and fruit tree crops as well as the wild shad berries. The shadbush got its name because it blooms at the time the shad fish are running in the rivers. These fish and other members of the herring family live in the Atlantic Ocean and return in spring to the rivers where they were spawned, and lay their eggs for the next generation. Native Americans relied on these abundant fish for food as well as a crop fertilizer and again taught the early settlers about this part of their life. (more…)