Vert-à-Go

Looking for a last-minute gift for someone special? Here are some ideas that are sustainable, organic, local, and ethical!

Stocking stuffers (under $10)

• Fair trade chocolate bar (lots of different flavours–try Divine from 10,000 Villages, Cocoa Camino or Endangered Species from Steep Hill Co-op, Herbs and Health, or Dad’s Nutrition Centre)
• Fair trade peppercorns (you can get Orchard del Sol’s from Bulk Cheese Warehouse)
• Mini-bottle of black pansy or red clover syrup (from Bedard Creek Acres, available at the SaskMade Marketplace)
• Droolin’ Devil hot sauce (many delicious Saskatoon-made varieties available at various supermarkets, including Pelican Market on Lorne Avenue, or their headquarters at #5-801 7th Ave N)
• Premala’s spicy peanut spread (it’s yummy straight-up or as a marinade–get it at various supermarkets and their stall at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market)

For bookworms

It isn’t Christmas without a new book to read. Turning The Tide bookstore has some of these titles in stock and will happily special-order anything in for you; McNally Robinson also has some of them too.

• Stuffed & Starved, Raj Patel (an illuminating look at the roots of the global food crisis)
• Everything I Want to Do is Illegal: War Stories from the Local Food Front,  Joel Salatin (a funny and inspiring book from the American alternative agriculture guru)
• Introduction to Permaculture, Bill Mollison (the original and probably best sustainable agriculture resource guide)
• All New Square Foot Gardening, Mel Bartholomew (maximise your vegetable yield in a tiny space while cutting your workload–a great practical guide to the square foot gardening method)
• How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, Mark Bittman (cut your carbon emissions with the new vegetarian bible)
• Anything by Nigel Slater. Want something to curl up and browse? Try Appetite. Want something you’ll use even after both the covers fall off and it’s spattered beyond recognition? 30-Minute Cook or Real Fast Food will become your fast friends.
• How to Cook a Wolf, MFK Fisher (an amusing and thought-provoking book on how to feed yourself during hard times (first published in 1942). “[It] reads like an issue of Lady’s Home Journal, if the editorial staff were taken over by a philosopher with an empty stomach, a slightly tipsy poet and your mischievous, foxy godmother who once kept many lovers.”

For the gardener

• Salt Spring Seeds Zero Mile Diet Seed Kit (A dozen different seed packets to help you become food self-sufficient–includes Blue Tinge Ethiopian Wheat, Faust Barley, Golden Flax, Multi-hued Quinoa, Amaranth Mix, Heritage Bean Mix, Darlaine Soup Pea, Winnifred’s Garbanzo, Manitoba Soybean, Russian Kale, 20 Lettuce Blend and Mishca Paste Tomato, as well as grower’s guide). $42
• Seeds of Diversity membership (Canada’s heritage seed program for gardeners–the source for information about heritage seeds, seed saving, plant diversity, garden history and your own garden heritage) $30 annual membership
• Sign them up for the University of Saskatchewan Master Gardener program (Become a Master Gardener–learn the art and science of gardening, meet fellow horticultural enthusiasts, and help the community) Registration fee $100 (total fees under $400)
• Subscription to The Gardener for the Prairies magazine $18 for one year, $34 for 2 years
• Urban Land Army’s Land Survey Kit (Looking for somewhere to grow? Want to assess the land you already have? This handy kit from the friendly folks at Urban Land Army has everything you need to get started–essential information, checklists, graph paper, clipboard, and pencil!) US$8

For the eager but underequipped convert

Have they read The Omnivore’s Dillemma and are now raring to go–but don’t know where to start? Help them out:

• Stainless steel compost pail (These are good-looking, easy-to-clean pails from Lee Valley that you can keep out on your countertop) $20 for 4L, $22 for 6L
• Hori hori Japanese farmer knife (I’m told that you don’t really need any other gardening hand tool if you have one of these. I’m hoping for one for Christmas myself, as my trowel disappeared this summer!) $22.50 carbon steel, $29.50 stainless steel
• Stock pot (The best way keep stray vegetables, meat bones, and assorted leftovers out of the landfill? Learn how to make stock–and soup–and nourish yourself at the same time. But you’ll need a big pot like this one from Zellers if you want to make a big batch) $29.99
• How to Boil Water, Food Network Kitchens (Want to quit eating fast food and ready-meals but don’t have the faintest idea where to start in the kitchen? This book is a fantastic primer for the absolute beginner cook) US$16.50
• Follow Vert-à-Go (Don’t miss a single post: RSS it, Twitter it, del.icio.us it, or join us on Facebook) Delightfully free
  

For kids

Start them as you’d like them to go on:

• Kid-sized garden tools (They’ll love helping out with their very own tools from Lee Valley, which are bright enough to spot even if they’re left lying on the ground) $7
• Pretend Soup and Other Real Recipes: a cookbook for preschoolers and up, Mollie Katzen and Ann Henderson (This book from the famous Moosewood Restaurant team features delicious vegetarian recipes that little kids will love. It’s designed to teach them valuable culinary skills in a fun way and inspire a love of real cooking and good food!)
• Get growing kit (Get them started with some easy-grow and satisfying seeds like carrots, beans, and lettuce–stick them in a small light-weight sturdy pail that they can use to carry rain water, harvested vegetables, or leaves/corn husks/other small bits destined for the compost bin) About $7, more or less
• Vermicomposting box (Core Neighbourhood Youth Co-op does a worm composting box that’s perfect for people who don’t have an outdoor compost bin–and kids love helping to feed the worms) $50
• Child’s sun hat (MEC’s hat is made in Canada, partly from organically-grown cotton, and has a long flap to cover the neck and keep the sun off during those busy mornings in the garden or the berry patch) $18

For the SOLE food gourmand

• Fair trade coffee or tea (Try the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe from The Roastery, Kicking Horse from Sobey’s, Salt Spring Coffee from Herbs and Health, or enjoy the aroma while choosing from the wide fair trade organic selection at McQuarries) $10 and up for 1 pound
• Fair trade olive oil (Zatoun’s olive oil, available at Turning the Tide bookstore or 10,000 Villages, benefits Palestinian farmers and children in the West Bank) $18 for a 750ml bottle
• Organic wine (There are some good ones now available at the LBS–the Bonterra zinfandel is highly recommended) $13 and up
• Locally-brewed special edition winter ale (Call Paddock Wood Brewery on 477-5632 to see if they have any of their delightful Winter Ale left. Available at the brewery store only) $3.50 apiece or $18/half-dozen
• Divine dark chocolate fair trade after dinner mints (Available at 10,000 Villages, it’s the quintessential square after-dinner chocolate mint–only fairly made) $6.95
• Saskatoon Farmers’ Market goodie basket (Assemble a basket of delicious locally-grown and produced food for an unforgettable meal–how about some artisan bread, a couple of steaks from Benlock Farms, organic potatoes and carrots, cherry swirl ice cream…or exquisite mini-cupcakes…or wild Saskatchewan blueberries…or mouth-watering mini-baklavas?) Sky’s the limit!

Share your bounty

What shows your love better than something you made with your own two hands?

• salsa
• jam
• pickles
• homemade bread
• a box of Christmas cookies, treats–or wrap up a frozen cookie dough log

For the person who has everything

• Give to UNICEF (You can buy high energy biscuits which provide immediate nutrition for girls and boys or water treatment tablets that ensures safe drinking water for large numbers of people, amongst other Gifts of Magic) $20-30–other gifts $10 and up
• 10,000 Villages Gift of Seeds (Provide 10 families in needy areas with vegetable seeds and fruit seedlings) $25
• Donate to the Red Cross Food Security Crisis Appeal (They are stepping up food security programs in 15 African countries) any amount greatly appreciated
• Make a local donation and help hungry kids and adults in your community (Saskatoon Food Bank, CHEP, Station 20 West) any amount greatly appreciated
• Urban Land Army t-shirt (Join the Urban Land Army campaign and show off your allegiance with this nicely-fitted and comfy t-shirt. Everyone needs another t-shirt to garden in, right?) US$18 taxes and shipping included

Happy holidays!

This past weekend, the six members of the Number One Ladies Jam Collective got together to exchange the (preserved) fruit of their labours: strawberry, raspberry, pear ginger, apricot, and peach/raspberry jam. Delicious! We will definitely be doing this again next year.

We enjoyed a few wines during the evening, including an organic Chilean cabernet sauvignon (Cono Sur) and a French merlot packaged in the more environmentally-friendly tetrapack (French Rabbit). We sampled homemade/Saskatchewan-grown salsa, pickles, and hummus, and to top it off, I served chocolate beet cake, made from some of my beets from the community garden plot. My recipe came from the City Gardeners Cookbook, but this recipe is virtually identical (except that they sprinkled chocolate chips on the top and used canned beets and beet juice instead of 1.5 cups of fresh beet puree).

I made two 8-inch round cakes instead of one 9×13 sheet and spread peach-raspberry jam between the layers. Then I mixed up 1/2 cup of sour cream, 6oz melted semi-sweet chocolate, and 1/8tsp of salt for a quick icing. Topped with the very last surviving sprig of white and purple pansies from the garden and a few small bunches of Concord grapes from a vine at my mom and dad’s farm, it made an elegant-looking dessert that quite belied its humble roots. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of it before we devoured it!

It can be really difficult to find a good dill pickle. Either they’re too soft, or too salty, or the wrong kind of sour, or they’re just plain from too far away. Over the seven years I lived in England–where, inexplicably, grocery stores don’t carry them and most people have never even heard of them–I kept dreaming of those tall glass pickle jars lining my mom’s cold room.

I still haven’t lost any of my enthusiasm for them and have since introduced two small new pickle fiends into the world, so a jar doesn’t exactly last in our fridge for months at a time. I vowed that 2008 was the year that I was finally going to learn how to make them for myself! In August I picked up a couple of bags of small cucumbers (these are available pre-bagged at various farmers’ markets, although I got mine from Sobey’s, who had brought them in from Sovereign Colony near Rosetown). I didn’t have any canning experience, though, so I took them down to the farm to get some long-overdue instruction from my mom. We used her mother’s old recipe–and, I believe, some of Grandma’s old jars too!

Please note that this recipe assumes a familiarity with good canning practices (sterilising jars and following proper sealing procedures).

Olive’s garlic dills

Wash cucumbers. Pack into sterilised jars with garlic and dill. For each quart of cucumbers use:

• 3 cloves garlic
• fresh dill (4 good-sized stems of both leaves and flowers)
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1Tbsp pickling salt

Bring the brine to a boil, pour into jars and seal immediately (no boiling water bath required). Takes six weeks to pickle.

These pickles will last for at least a year (if you haven’t already eaten them all by then), but we have eaten from older jars with no problem at all. I was surprised at how easy it was to do. I did the second batch back at home using snap lids. One lid hadn’t snapped down like the others by the following morning (until I pushed on it), so I stuck that jar in the fridge for its 6-week pickling phase and will use it first, just in case.

And if you don’t feel like waiting until November for your pickles, or you just don’t feel like canning right now? Here’s a great recipe for refrigerator pickles that can tide you over.

photo by avantgardener4

People take their jam seriously. And why not? Your choice of jam can make or break your morning slice of toast. Having grown up with a mother who made raspberry freezer jam every year, I have a distinct preference for homemade jam. I find store-bought jam to be too cloying, and the chunks of fruit a sad shadow of their former selves. It’s so easy to make your own freezer jam, which doesn’t require cooking, complicated equipment, or any canning experience. It can also be more economical than the store-bought version. And unless (like Frances) you eat it four times a day, one batch of it should take care of your jam needs for the rest of the year.

There’s only one problem with a single batch of jam, though. Maybe you are only passionate about raspberry jam, or do not wish to start your day with anything but apricot jelly. But what if you like to mix it up a little? It could quickly become a big chore to make three or four different flavours, not to mention the fact that you probably couldn’t possibly get through 15 or 20 jars in a year.

A fun way to solve this problem is to start a jam collective–a small group of jam enthusiasts who trade a jar of their jam with each of the other members of the group. This way you end up with a number of different flavours, and also have an excellent excuse to get together with your group this autumn for a swap party. Of course, you needn’t restrict your collective to jam. Maybe one of your friends makes a massive batch of salsa each year, or maybe you were up to your armpits in cucumbers and made a dozen jars of dill pickles–or perhaps another friend has a freezer full of Saskatoon berries, while you harvested 30lbs of Swiss chard. As long as the items are pretty much equivalent in agreed/perceived value, anything goes!

Below is the invitation I sent out to the prospective members of our jam collective–please feel free to use, adapt, and distribute it as you like!

The Number One Ladies’ Jam Collective *

I am planning to form a small jam collective this summer. Each member would make a batch of jam (5-6 jars, depending on how many want to join), and then distribute one jar to each member, thereby promoting greater jam diversity and breakfast delight throughout the year!

A few simple guidelines:

• Either freezer or cooked jam is fine, as long as members agree that they have enough freezer space to accommodate the planned amount.
• Jars do not have to be new or a uniform size–in the case of freezer jam, reusing old jars is encouraged.
• The jam needs to be safely edible, but do not stress about presentation! Martha Stewart will NOT be invited to join this  collective.
• When labelling the jam, please put your name on it so we know who to give credit to when we scarf it down each morning.
• If anyone would like their own jars back for next year, I would be happy to organise their safe return, so let me know.
• Jam-making is open to and should be encouraged in both sexes and all ages! You will create good jam karma if you teach a newbie how to make jam while you make yours.
• Do you know other people interested in joining? Creating your own spin-off jam collective chapter is an excellent way to spread the (jam) love! Pun-filled chapter names are, needless to say, highly encouraged.

If you are interested in taking part, please let me know, along with the kind of jam you would like to make (maybe have a second choice in mind in case everyone wants to make the same thing). If you’re too busy or don’t feel like taking part, no worries! I can easily open it up to other people. You guys are simply the A list.

I also thought it would be nice for us to get together one evening in September or early October to do the trades, have a visit, and drink some wine! Unless your jam is a darkly-held family secret, could you please send me the recipe/product used? I will make up a little recipe booklet that everyone can take home in case they want to try their hand at someone else’s  delightful jam next year.

Thanks and talk to you soon!

Susan

* Our jam collective happens to be comprised of women (hence the name), but it needn’t be. I believe that everyone–male or female, child or adult–needs to learn food cultivation, preparation, and preserving skills. Women should not have to bear the sole responsibility for whether or not a household eats in a thoughtful and sustainable fashion! It is everyone’s individual responsibility, and it will only become more and more important for everyone to have this knowledge in the coming years.

This morning my sister and I headed out of town to pick raspberries for a couple of hours. I have a small raspberry patch in the back garden that has kept us in breakfast berries for the past few weeks, but they’re nearing the end of their season. The kids and I could happily eat raspberries every day for the rest of our lives, so it seemed like a good idea to get some extra tucked away into the freezer.

Although there are quite a lot of u-pick raspberry farms outside of Saskatoon (search for ‘raspberries’ in the product field at the Saskatchewan Fruit Growers Association web site), we plumped for the closest–Rhodes’ Raspberries and Blackcurrants.

Started four years ago by Peter Rhodes, this family-owned orchard grows eight different varieties of raspberries on ten acres (including Boyne, Souris, and Red River, among others). We picked Novas and Skeena today, both of which were large and very sweet. The Novas had a slightly ‘wilder’ taste, but we liked them both a lot.

And as you can tell by the farm’s name, it also produces blackcurrants–two acres of the antioxidant-packed fruit. Rhodes says that his blackcurrants are a particularly hearty variety from Poland and have been very successful in the Saskatchewan climate. The blackcurrants we saw were plump and beautifully formed, and had an excellent flavour–quite tangy, so highly suitable for cooking and preserving.

Rhodes also has some some exciting news for expat Brits and transplanted west-coasters–he has planted blackberries this year, which he hopes will bear fruit next summer. Not generally considered hardy in our climate, this variety of blackberry is claimed to be able to withstand -40C temperatures. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that they make it!

How to freeze raspberries (or blackcurrants)

Choose firm, dry berries. Lightly inspect berries for foreign matter or blemishes. Refrigerate immediately in shallow containers. Freeze unwashed* on trays in a single layer until hard (about 30 minutes). Pack quickly into freezer bags, removing as much air as possible, or freezer containers, leaving 1 cm (1/2 inch) headspace.  Rinse and drain just before use.

– from the Saskatchewan Fruit Growers Asssociation

* I tend to wash mine first; I actually submerge them in water to drive out any hidden critters (an unavoidable hazard with raspberries), then drain really well and freeze on a tray. Get them into the freezer as quickly as possible after picking to maintain vitamins and texture.

Rhodes’ Raspberries and Blackcurrants

• RR3 Site 300 (Box 45)
• Saskatoon, SK S7K 3J6
• (306) 934-6748
• peterrhodes2@sasktel.net
• Web site: www.rhodesraspberries.ca

How to get there: Take Dundonald Avenue, which becomes Valley Road past the Saskatoon Landfill. One minute past the landfill, turn right onto the Cedar Villa Estate gravel road. Once you get past the Chappell Conservation Marsh, turn left onto the first gravel road (it’s the only left-turn gravel road before Cedar Villa Estates).  The orchard gate is ¾s of a mile down this road on the left.

Prices:

• Raspberries $10/4L ice cream pail (u-pick) or $20 pre-picked**
• Blackcurrants $15/4L pail (picked over), or $20 (picked over and all stems removed).

Cash or cheques accepted.

**It takes about an hour to pick a pail. Be prepared to do quite a lot of picking on your knees–I recommend long trousers, long sleeves, and arriving early in the day. Bring your water bottle (but save room for some of Peter’s delicious ice cream or sorbet at the end!)

(photo: Bright lights, big city–Danny’s magnificent chard!)

I went by the Nutana Community Garden the other day for the first time in several weeks. My husband took charge of the plot this spring and did some nifty space-saving planting (thanks to Square Foot Gardening)–it’s all looking really good. In particular, the Swiss chard is going completely rampant!

Swiss chard is one of those things that tastes best fresh out of the ground and is done no favours by hanging out in a supermarket cooler (buy it in season at a farmers’ market or other local vendor–try Steep Hill Co-op). It will also continue to grow back throughout the season–in fact, the more you cut it, the better it grows. So if you have a few square feet of sunny ground to spare, you can keep yourself in these highly nutritious greens from mid-July to freeze-up (and beyond, if you freeze what you can’t eat fresh at the time!). There are a number of varieties, but I personally like Bright Lights for its gorgeously-tinted stems. Planted in containers, these were a huge hit at London’s famed Chelsea Flower Show a few years back.

So, what should you do with it while it’s at its best and more profuse? Well, right now you can add it to your morning omelette, chop it up and add to a tossed green salad, make soup (it goes great with beans or lentils), make pesto, sauté it as a side dish, make Swiss chard ‘cabbage’ rolls, add it to pasta, chickpeas, casseroles, fish…the possibilities are pretty much endless. You could even try a tourte aux blettes– a sweet Swiss chard tart (often including apple, raisins, and pine nuts) popular in the south of France, which is often served for dessert.

If you’re picking Swiss chard from the garden, you will probably still have more popping out of the ground than you can possibly use right now. If you get it into the freezer, you can save yourself money and food miles this winter!

How to freeze Swiss chard

If you’re going to use frozen Swiss chard within a couple of weeks, you can just stick it into a bag and freeze it as-is. But if you want it to keep for longer, you need to give it a good wash in a cold water bath, blanch it (plunge it into hard-boiling water for two minutes to kill any nasty bacteria), then dunk it in ice water and squish out all the excess water, then pack it into freezer bags. It should last for a year in an air-tight bag or container.

You may want to remove the stems and use them fresh for something else rather than freezing them–they can go rather mushy and/or stringy after freezing.

Get more great Swiss chard recipes:

Leslie Beck, RD: Canada’s leading nutritionist

Veggie Meal Plans

Simply Recipes

Martha Stewart

(photo: Saskatoon berries on vanilla ice cream with chokecherry syrup)

My neighbour brought over a tub of Saskatoon berries the other day. She’d been picking at a friend’s farm about 30 miles south of the city, and said that she’d never seen such an incredible crop–the bushes looked almost entirely blue, and you could practically pick fistfuls of them at a time. They just came off the bushes in huge clumps.

Now, I might get drummed out of the province for saying it, but I’m not actually a huge fan of Saskatoon berries once they’re cooked–I think they become cloying and overly glutenous in pies and jam. But fresh berries are another matter. Sprinkled over breakfast cereal, served up with fresh cream, or scooped up by the handful, they’re just amazing. They’re a blueberry with attitude (although of course they’re not technically even a berry–did you know that they’re related to the rose family and the fruit is in fact a tiny apple?). They also have the same antioxidant potency as blueberries, so along with the strawberry, they’re another incredibly healthy local fruit choice. Great for reducing your personal food miles!

The Saskatchewan Fruit Growers Association has some good advice on picking and freezing Saskatoon berries so you can enjoy them throughout the winter:

How to freeze Saskatoon berries

Choose firm, dry berries. Lightly inspect berries for foreign matter or blemishes. Refrigerate immediately in shallow containers. Freeze unwashed on trays in a single layer until hard (about 30 minutes). Pack quickly into freezer bags, removing as much air as possible, or place in freezer containers leaving 1 cm (1/2 inch) headspace. Rinse and drain just before use.

Here are the details for half a dozen local Saskatoon berry farms. Most places have only just opened for the season, so you might want to give the berries another few days growing time to ensure good fast picking. (update: it’s a good idea to phone ahead to check picking conditions before heading out)

The Berry Barn

• 830 Valley Road
• 978-9797
• 8am-8pm daily
• U-pick $10/ice cream pail, or 3/$20. Pre-picked $15/pail.

Their season opens Monday 14 July–the berries should be up to speed by mid-week.

Berry Masters

• 5 miles NW of Saskatoon (call for directions)
• 242-4780
• call ahead to arrange picking time
• $10/ice cream pail

U-pick isn’t their main business, so please call ahead to arrange a convenient time.

Tim Epp

• Heading east on 8th Street, the farm is precisely 5km past the Briarwood gate on the left-hand side of the road (their mailbox says 295)
• 373-6114
• open anytime within reasonable hours
• $5/ice cream pail (please bring exact money for honour system payment)

The berries are slowly ripening and should be in full swing within the next week.

Lorraine’s Saskatoon Berries & Gifts

• 3625 Mount Royal Avenue, Furdale. Head south on Lorne Avenue/Highway 219 and turn right on Cartwright Street (the Concordia Club is on the left). Mount Royal is the third road, you turn left and Lorraine’s is the second or third place on the right. Follow her signs; you can’t miss it.
• 665-0818
• open 8am-8pm
• $7/ice cream pail or 3/$20

Moon Lake Saskatoon Berry Farm

• 775 Valley Road
• 382-9574
• 8am-8pm daily
• $8/ice cream pail u-pick; $15/pail pre-picked

Strawberry Ranch

• 325 Valley Road
• 384-4842
• 8am-6pm daily (weather permitting–call ahead to confirm)
• $8/ice cream pail; $16 pre-picked

Saskatoon berry picking is now underway, but they will be heavier by the middle of this week.

(photo: thanks to Clairity Daily)

The Strawberry Ranch has opened for the season. Why not organise a picking party and take a carload of friends? They also sell pre-picked berries if you’re short on time or inclination.

I froze a bunch of SR berries last year and they were delicious thawed out on cereal throughout the winter–much more flavourful than the frozen ones from the grocery store, and cheaper too (plus, they hadn’t been shipped from Chile!). Strawberries also contain more vitamin C than oranges, so you can happily eat locally-produced berries throughout the entire Saskatchewan winter without worrying about contracting scurvy by April (they’re also a great source of potassium and folic acid).

How to freeze strawberries

Refrigerate strawberries as soon as possible after picking, and don’t wash or hull them until you’re ready to freeze them (it’s best if you do this as soon as possible to maintain nutrients). To freeze, wash and hull them, then place them whole in a single layer on a baking sheet in the freezer. When they’re frozen hard (about 30 minutes), you can then stick them into bags or containers without worrying that they will all freeze together in one big clump. You can add a sugar pack (3/4 cup sugar per 4 cups of berries) or freeze them in a syrup (equal parts sugar and water boiled for 5 minutes), but they should last perfectly well throughout the winter without any added sugar if they’re in an airtight bag or container.

My four-year-old and I also made a very easy strawberry freezer jam with some of the smaller berries last summer–we’re only just finishing the last couple of jars now. It should last a year frozen.

The Strawberry Ranch is located 4 miles southwest of the city on Valley Road. Their hours are 8am-6pm daily (they won’t be opening evenings this year because it wasn’t busy enough last year). If the weather is dodgy, call 384-4842 to check that they’ll be open. U-pick strawberries are $8/4L basket.