Not Far From The Tree is delighted to welcome a new column for our blog – our first real column! “Millie Says” is written by Millie Lytle BA, ND, C. Ht., a licensed naturopathic doctor and psychotherapist and research practitioner.

Until March  2009 she worked at the START Clinic for mood and anxiety disorders where she was actively involved in private practice and research; particularly in the areas of acupuncture and sexual dysfunction and her Food for Mood Diet within a health promotion weight loss pilot at the Start Clinic.

She believes that mind, body and spirit are symbiotic and can be treated wholistically by addressing all parts of the self. Achieving and maintaining health can be achieved through a combination of healthy food, water, personal resources and healthy community policies and programs.

Millie Lytle is currently on academic leave, studying for a Master’s in Public Health (Food Policy and Nutrition) in Hamburg Germany.

For more nuggets of wisdom from Millie, check out her own blog at www.milliesays.wordpress.com.

To kick things off, she has written about one of the first fruit crops of the season, serviceberries.

Serviceberries, of the Amelanchier spp., are indigenous to most every part of Canada and the US, possibly putting ‘Saskatoon’ on the map. Other colloquial names refer to their seasonal availability, such as juneberry.

From slightly tart to nutty sweet, these nutritious delicacies are used to flavour Native American Pemmican. They and appear just as the shad run, hence another name: shadbush.

Because of their dark red-blue-black colorings the ripe berries are jam-packed with proantho-antioxidants. Doctrine of signatures from Chinese as well as Iroquois herbal traditions place them among the blood-building kind due to their dark colors, especially for nourishing mom after childbirth. Phenolic acids have been isolated from European Juneberries unveiling the health benefits of these dark little berries, providing a mechanism for positively affecting blood pressure and blood circulation.

Careful eating them before harvest, as they may induce vomiting when unripe, a popular use for them in 18 and 19th century Europe.