One of my favorite things about summer is the abundance of fresh berries. Don’t your eyes just light up at all the recipe possibilities in a pint of bright, juicy berries? Last night I picked the first of our black raspberries and they didn’t disappoint. While they were still warm from the sun I ate a dish of them with a dollop of whipped cream. Nature’s perfect dessert!

As a child, Berry Picking ranked right up there on my list of favorite things to do. It made my day when Mom sent me down the road with a pail and the instruction to “pick enough berries for a pie”. Picking berries is still an enjoyable task.

Last night as I was picking our black raspberries I got to wondering why picking berries is a favorite task of mine. After all, picking berries involves a lot of things I don’t particularly care for and it doesn’t make sense that I would like any task that requires so many things I don’t like.

For those of you that have never picked any kind of wild bramble berry here’s what it’s like:

1. It’s hot and humid
2. You wear long sleeves and pants when it’s so hot and humid
3. The whole area is swarming with mosquitoes
4. Even with long sleeves and pants you get scratched and bit to death
5. You spend all your time bending, reaching and contorting to reach that last ripe berry; at the same time you are trying to wrench yourself free from the thorny clutch of the berry canes, swat mosquitoes, watch for snakes and make sure you don’t upset your berry bucket.


What’s to like about that?! At first glance I’m really not sure! But when you dig deeper there are several things that I do enjoy:

1. With my type a personality, I’m always thinking of the next thing that has to be done. Most of the time when I’m working on something I’m trying to hurry so I can move on to the next thing and the next thing after that. I seldom work with great focus, becoming so consumed with a task that I don’t think of anything else. (Maybe I have adult add :) There are very few activities/chores/tasks that I can completely focus on and not have my brain going 90 miles an hour thinking of what’s next. Berry picking is one of those rare tasks; it’s so refreshing to just be able to focus singularly on something and forget everything else.

2. Growing up on a farm you learn very early in life that nothing will get done if you wait until the conditions are just right and you are in the right mood. And sadly, even when you are out of the farm environment, this principle still holds true. But I can honestly say, the reward of a job well done is terrific, especially when you didn’t feel like doing it and the conditions were hard to overcome.

3. The nostalgia aspect. The older I grow, the more delight I find in anything that makes me feel like a kid again. When I’m standing waist deep in grass, brush and brambles, swatting mosquitoes and picking berries with my purple stained hands I feel like I’m 10 years old. It’s as if time stands still for me for those few precious minutes.

4. The pies, cobblers, jams, smoothies, etc! Who doesn't love a homemade goody made with berries you picked yourself?