pDuring the author's childhood she listened to the many stories she overheard her grandmother, Leta Oesch, and her great-grandmother telling about life in Canada. After her own daughter was born she was determined to preserve this family lore in a book about her grandmother's life. Blackberry Winter is the story of Leta Oesch, a young girl growing up in northern Saskatchewan, Canada. In 1903, Leta's parents traveled in covered wagons from Nebraska to Canada to homestead in the Northwest Territories. It was a harsh, unforgiving land where only the strongest could survive -- a land where the temperature could range from 110 degrees in summer to 60 degrees below zero in winter. Born in a log cabin during a blizzard, Leta grew up on the farm in northern Canada where time seemed to stand still. Work on the homestead was hard and never-ending. She helped her father clear the land and plant the crops, as well as breaking wild ponies and oxen. She learned the many ways to preserve food, how to