Merry Berry

Remember those Eat'n Park commercials about the Merry Berry Month of May? Me too.

But we don't get berries in May. That's silliness. We get berries starting in June and this summer we've been enjoying the fruits of our bushes and shrubs continually.

We had an incredibly short but sweet strawberry season. The wet wet weather we had reeked havoc on the U-pick strawberry farm. We didn't end up going, but instead snacking on the wild ones at Green Garden (teeny! but sweet), the frozen ones from last season, and the planted ones in our backyard.

At the end of June and through July, we got the biggest, best huckleberries and blueberries we've picked. Ever. Know how big a wild blueberry is? Then you'll appreciate these photos. Oliver had a tough time keeping his hands out of Mama's container, but was darn pleased later with blue muffins, pancakes, pies, and fresh snacks.

The little one is a more "normal" wild huckleberry -- compared to this year's average size!

I've never been a fan of blueberry pie. It always seemed overly sweet and jellied to me. Then Jods turned me on to Fresh Berry Pie and a whole new world opened up! Try it.

Then in July (while huckles and blues were still going) the raspberries kicked in. They have such a short window, those raspberries. They're fragile and susceptible to mold and they'll fall off the bush at the slightest breeze. Sort of precious, I guess. Maybe that's why they're Darling's favorite berry. O seemed to really get into them this year as well (blueberries are his fave); more often than not when he disappeared from sight and I'd call him, the response was "I'm picking raspberries, Mama!" 

The huge raspberry crop ended abruptly, as raspberries tend to do, but not before we had raspberries in cereal, pie (see above!), and a fresh raspberry sherbert from the neighbors.

Now it's time for blackberries. These big guys tend to be my favorite (well, I do like the huckleberries best, but they're so little...) Blackberries are big, tart, bold, not so seedy as raspberries. Can handle tougher conditions and can fill a colander in minutes. So why are we having such a weak blackberry year? O and I ate 12 on Sunday and that just might be it for the rest of the week. Or season. May have to grab a few frozen from last year for my choice summer quencher: blackberry basil lemonade. Which will just lead me to crave Martha's Blackberry Basil Tart.

So many berries. So little time. Buckle, cobbler, tart, jam, sorbet...