Salal or Oregon Grape Jelly

1 L (4 cups) juice of Oregon grapes or salal berries
1 L (4 cups) sugar
1 box Certo

Prepare wild berry juice by barely covering cleaned, washed berries with water in a saucepan, heating until they come to a boil, simmering, then straining the juice. About 1 L (4 cups) of berries will yield about 500 ml (2 cups) of juice. Sterilize jelly jars, spoons and Pyrex measuring cup to pour boiled jelly into jars. Place new canning jar lids in saucepan with water, bring to a boil and boil for 5-10 minutes. Mix sugar and certo crystals with berry juice in large stainless steel pot, bring to a boil, boil hard for one minute, then pour into sterilized jars using sterilized Pyrex cup. Fix lids in place, screw on ring caps and let sit until cool and until the lids have sealed.

Our island’s ours again
(Tune of “Rolling Down to Old Maui”)

On the first of May of every year
They come by boat and plane
The ferry starts to overload
And the traffic is a pain
All summer long down in the Cove
The shop doors open wide
The rest of us head for the hills
And find some place to hide

Chorus: Farewell to all you mainlanders
And welcome to the rain
So raise a cheer, the autumn’s here
Our island’s ours again!

Their money spent, the continent
Will accept them in its fold
The beaches are available
Though the water’s freezing cold
Once more we can find our favourite seats
On a barstool down at Docs
And the women who run VONIGO
Can replenish all their stock

Chorus

Now the nights are cool, the air is brisk
Mount Gardner wears a shroud
The wind has swung southeast again
And the Sound is full of cloud
For the next eight months we’ll hide away
And slowly go insane
But what care we, we’re finally free
Our island’s ours again!

Chorus

The Squamish winds will blow for days
And the breeze will chill our bones
But the firewood’s stacked and the pantry’s packed
And we’ve battened down our homes
We’re done with yard work, cleaned the eaves
And there’s nothing left to stain
Let winter send its best at us
Our island’s ours again!

Chorus