Jul 12th, 2023 Wednesday Rainy (yeah!)
I LOVE berries, to the extent that my husband put “I swear to provide fresh berries for you every day” into his wedding vow ?
Consequently, one of my favorite summer activities around town is berry picking. It started when my husband and I were still dating – some of our friends would ask around for interest in strawberry picking in early June, and coordinate a time to go together. I was always the lucky one that got to select the cutest berries in our assigned row without worrying about the progress of picking (obviously if I only picked the picture-perfect berries, it would take FOREVER to fulfill the amount of red fruits that we hoped to take home – needless to say, my now-husband made up for my “slack” by filling over 90 percent of that 10lb container while I played around and “tasted” as many as I could fit in my belly 😛 ). After this event, we typically have enough jewels to last until next summer.
During the pandemic, when fun activities became most restricted, I was even more looking forward to berry picking. However, I wanted to try picking other berries too, so I searched online and found another farm nearby that offered blueberry and raspberry picking. They require a sign-up to limit the capacity and preserve the quality of berries. Last year, I got a spot and drove there with my husband.
The raspberries were bountiful, though a little hard to find. In contrast, the blueberries were unimpressive. I talked to the farm owner, and was told that the blueberries would be a lot nicer for the first pick of the year, which usually happens around July 4th.
“We have to catch that next year!” I commented, and made a mental note to do so.
This year, I started checking this farm’s website in June, and was anxious to refresh the page every day as July approached. And then – boom! When the sign-up finally opened, the spots were gone within 30 minutes – I did not even get a chance! (the same thing repeated again and again for the next few picking events at this farm) ?
“What should we do?” I asked my husband with a pouty face. “I wanted to make a raspberry buttermilk cake this weekend!”
Fortunately, the berry bushes in our own garden came to out rescue. They finally start producing good number of berries this year. We received a few raspberry canes from a friend a couple of years ago, and my husband identified some wild black raspberry plants that randomly popped up in the spring. Black raspberries are just like their more familiar red cousins, except that they are only fully ripened when their colors turned into dark blackish purple. Botanically they are distinct from blackberries, which have an edible torus/stem that comes with the fruits. Raspberries’ torus remains on the branch, leaving the fruits hollow.
As soon as the berry troops under our charge were located, I ordered that all of them be placed in specific spots so that I could find and recognize them easily (I am not a plant taxonomy frenzy like my husband) AND they do not take over the whole garden (raspberries, especially the native kind, grow like weeds and spread readily). I certainly do not mind free, fresh berry supplies as long as they stay organized 😉
Since we never water or fertilize these berry plants, the beautiful gems that we got to harvest are truly the gift of nature. I am grateful for the generosity we are blessed with, and I pray for much, much more ??