We’re coming to the end of summer, and the season’s bounty is out there ripe for the harvest.

As we walked around outside last night, occasional clouds of stench wafted over us. Years ago, Rose and her friend Judy named the noxious smell “snork.” A fitting name. At times it is so strong that if you close your eyes you might imagine that there is a particularly fetid dog’s rear end parked right in front of your nose. It can really stink.

What is it? Well, it is the smell of autumn approaching – highbush cranberry, or Viburnum edule, a common small shrub in the boreal forest. These plants produce edible berries, and this year has been a good one for them. With a stink like that, who would eat them? A lot of people. I find them to be so tart that I only enjoy the juice of a few on the tongue occasionally. The fruits have a big seed in them, so they are not a berry you chew and swallow, but they do have a very tart cranberry flavor. We haven’t yet gone out and harvested any to prepare jelly or any of the many other recipes some folks enjoy.

The culprit — highbush cranberry

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension tells us rather coyly that it has a musty odor. If that’s all it was, we might be more tempted to try some of their recipes. In the meantime, we’ll just enjoy them in their natural setting, occasionally thinking unkind thoughts about dogs.

In the boreal forest, highbush cranberry is one of the first plants to go into autumn colors