Berry Picking Time

What is your favorite time of year? Mine is spring. Warm, southern breezes. The greening of the landscape. Birds happily chirping. New life springing forth at every turn is amazing to me. Even after all these years that I have been on this Earth, I am still in awe of life.

At the end of spring comes the best part; berry picking time! There is nothing in the world like the taste of fresh picked fruit! Strawberries are amazing. I love to slice the plump red berries into a mixed fruit salad with honey and nuts and seeds. Delicious and so good for you. But picking strawberries requires a lot of work and I am usually sorry I started well before I’m finished!

Blackberries make the best cobblers but, unless you have one of the many thornless varieties, you will come away looking like you’ve been in a war zone. For me, it’s not worth the damage.

My favorite all-around fruit is blueberries. They grow on tall bushes that have no thorns and don’t require stooping. What could be better? I had never picked blueberries until I was an adult and found myself trying to live a healthier lifestyle by eating more appropriate foods. Blueberries are chock full of all the good things we need. And none of the bad. It became a ritual every year to take the grandchildren berry picking. They were young and easily impressed, so they loved it. Also, they got to eat all the berries they wanted while we were there. I often joked with the owner of the patch we frequented that they should weigh everyone before and after picking to see how much money they had lost! They always declined with a laugh, saying it was just good PR.

Even now, that the children are all grown, occasionally they may still look in the freezer to check the dwindling supply of goodies and remark, “Looks like we’d better go berry picking!”

I smile and say, “Yes,” knowing full well that those days are gone and that my supply of fresh berries now comes from the work of someone else’s hands. I don’t really mind. No sunburn. No chigger or tick bites. No lugging containers back to the car. I can leave those things to someone else. What I wouldn’t trade for the world are my fun-filled memories of berry picking with the grand-kids!

What is your favorite season and the fun activity associated with it? Is it, like mine, spring and berry picking season? If so, which fruit is most popular at your house? How do you prepare it? I’d love to hear.