Wild Berry Vines and Fruit Trees

[Shellyann36]

When I was younger it was no problem for me and my Mama and aunt Helen to head off into the woods and come back with buckets and bowls brimming with wild blackberries, plums, grapes, huckleberries or persimmons. I especially loved to go pick wild blackberries. They were and still are my favorite berry. I always ended up with a whole bunch of redbug bites but that did not matter to me. The reward was the homemade biscuits covered with the blackberries and their juices for dessert that night after supper.

These days it is hard to find these wild vines, canes and trees growing anywhere. Progress has taken such a toll on these wild edibles and I think it stinks!

Are you fortunate enough to find wild edibles in your area?

 

[Pat]

Shellyann36 you are so right. It seems progress and development is all around us. I personally would like for the developers to take a holiday and leave some of the trees and grassy areas.

When you see those futuristic movies where we are living in super skyscrapers, sometimes I think it just may get to that.

A good developer will leave mature trees and ponds in the plan to help with erosion and soil conservation. For years developers would go into an area cut everything down put up their buildings and then try to plant new trees and bushes. I think we are using up to much of out natural resources, we need to let mother earth breath for awhile and stop with the over developing.

 

[cmckinney01]

It is hard to find wild berries in our area. As Shellyann pointed out, progress has really taken a toll on wild berries. It's too bad. I can remember picking blackberries in the woods when I was a kid. Now, those woods are gone.

 

[justusforus]

I remember mulberry trees brimming with berries and elderberries. We also would harvest walnuts from beautiful trees by the river. That was as a kid in the midwest. In California, I am not aware of any natural berries to go out and forage.

 

[zigs]

Still lots of wild stuff around here.

Some years back, I was picking Blackberries in the middle of a huge field, when a couple of Indian guys came right over and started picking right next to me.

They didn't acknowledge me, carried on chatting to each other in Punjabi.

When their hands were full, they just turned round and put their berries in my basket. Must be the custom to help folk pick where they came from

 

[gata montes]

No unfortunately we don't have wild berries or anything like that growing where I live - unless of course you would count all the shoots from the peoples fruit trees that spring up everywhere - as being wild fruits - which if you did - then I would live in a Pandora's box of wild fruits

Although I'm not sure that I would want to eat blackberries even if I had them - after what Zigs found in his last year

Zigs - I thought your story of how the Indian guys helped you was lovely - it would have made my day if someone had done that for me - especially as its a rare thing these days for anyone to do anything for someone else - but to do it voluntarily makes it even better

 

[zigs]

Oh dear, i've scarred you for life there

It was lovely of them

Karma, do nice things and nice things come back to you

I saw a young lad operating a stop go board in the middle of winter in the shade with no coat on last year. I stopped and gave him my jumper, he looked so pleased.

 

[gata montes]

zigs - think so - don't think blackberries would ever look the same again especially as I'll ever forget the sight of that horrible creature you found lurking in your blackberries -

Yes Karma is good - but sadly it doesn't always come back to you- but it feels good to do things for others - whether or not it comes back

That was a really nice thing to do - give someone your sweater - hope he appreciated it

 

[Shellyann36]

@Pat we are destroying our natural resources! I live here near Fort Bragg and there are so many housing developments going up. The farm land is all being sold off left and right. It makes me sick.

@cmckinney01 It is very sad that so many are gone. Well really all of them are gone. Very sad indeed.

@justusforus It is good to remember those days. It is a shame that no more wild picking sites are around you.

@zigs that is great that you have so many resources. I do so enjoy all of your pictures of your foraging adventures. It was very nice of them to help you fill up your bucket!

@gata montes LOL don't let @zigs photo of the worm in the black berry scare you. They wash right off! Oh and karma does come back around but it does not come back around right away. Could take years.

 

[happyflowerlady]

Last year, we lived out in the country, and there were just a whole lot of the wild blackberries; however, they just never got very large last year, so even when they were ripe it was not much worth picking them.
I think it was the weather pattern last year, since the year before that, there were less berries, but a larger size on the ones we did find.
Now, we have moved into town, so there aren't any wild berries near here at all. I am going to be planting berries everywhere that I can, in the hopes that we get some growing and can harvest them before too long.
At least the strawberries are fast growing, and raspberries will not take too long either.
But having some wild ones would be great ! !

 

[gata montes]

Shellyann36 - In reality I probably wouldn't as I always wash fruit and vegetables before eating them - but am not sure that I remember it being a worm - that was lurking in Zigs's blackberries - I somehow seem to remember it - as being something far more sinister looking than that

 

[Shellyann36]

Last year, we lived out in the country, and there were just a whole lot of the wild blackberries; however, they just never got very large last year, so even when they were ripe it was not much worth picking them.
I think it was the weather pattern last year, since the year before that, there were less berries, but a larger size on the ones we did find.
Now, we have moved into town, so there aren't any wild berries near here at all. I am going to be planting berries everywhere that I can, in the hopes that we get some growing and can harvest them before too long.
At least the strawberries are fast growing, and raspberries will not take too long either.
But having some wild ones would be great ! !

Do you miss your old home? I don't blame you for wanting to plant berries. I would like to replant our blackberries this year as well as blue berries. We have ten acres and I was surprised that we did not have any wild berries growing on the land but it is rather swampy so I guess that does impede them. We do have some wild grapes growing and we sort of cleared around them and gave them some breathing room. Only one grape vine survived that we planted. We will see how it goes this year. If the rains continue like they did last year we are in for trouble again.

Shellyann36 - In reality I probably wouldn't as I always wash fruit and vegetables before eating them - but am not sure that I remember it being a worm - that was lurking in Zigs's blackberries - I somehow seem to remember it - as being something far more sinister looking than that

LOL you are right it was a bit larger than a worm I think. Rather yucky fellow but I just cannot see giving up big ripe beautiful berries for a worm/pest. It's just not in my nature to pass blackberries by!

 

[zigs]

Do you want me to find it again?

 

[gata montes]

Do you want me to find it again?

OMG - NO thanks for the offer but I don't want to see it again - it took me months to recover from the nightmares I had on seeing it the last time - and have only just stopped being overly and searching all my fruit and vegetables - for imaginary bugs that aren't likely to be there.

 

[zigs]

I'll make up for it with a pic of Daughter #1 out on a forage/scrump