It's a Berry Good Time Of Year

OK, so the title is a bit cheesy.  But, I am in awe of the abundance Nature provides, and for the lessons she is willing to share with me.  When I really start lamenting the lack of progress, I get a new teaching right between the eyes.  That's the way my MooseBoots path works ... I am given what I need when it is appropriate!

This past weekend, I was out mowing the lawn.  Not so interesting?  Perhaps.  While wandering around the yard ... er, mowing ... I saw that we had some ripe strawberries.  I have been paying closer attention because I found ripe blue berries a few days before.  Anyway, I picked them and brought them in for Wendy and the girls.  Then, a short time later, I noticed that the serviceberry bushes had some ripe for the picking.  These ended up as a handful of sweet bliss for Wendy and the girls ... after I sampled one.  Continuing on, I spied red raspberries.  You guessed it, Wendy and the girls got a few more berries.  I also took note that the Black Raspberries are not yet ready.

It occurred to me at some point between all of the whine of the electric blade and the shouts of "Girls!" that I may have identified another tree in the blueberry patch in the woods behind the house.  By this time, I was grinning maniacally and itching to get into the woods to confirm my suspicion - this as opposed to itching because I had been in the woods, which is a completely different situation.

I asked if anyone wanted to come with me, but was eager to go and could not wait while everyone got ready.  We did decide that we needed to go strawberry picking at the local PYO place anyway.  So, I snuck off down the road, stopping to check on the hazel nut bushes.  I also wandered around the neighbor's yard and found a few more hazelnuts.  According to the other neighbor, hazelnut grew with abandon right here not so many years ago.

As I neared the field, I checked on the bunchberries, which are not even close to ready.  I entered the field carefully checking the blueberry bushes for ripening.  Those plants in the full sun have a few berries ready, but most do not.  It will be another week I guess.  I approached the tree with anxious hope and I was rewarded for my efforts ... a 12' (4 m) tall serviceberry with ripening berries.  It has been growing here for years and I had never been aware enough to see it.  The difference is that this year I saw the flowers and remember not knowing what the tree was.  It is growing in a small clump with some aspen and so I had never really seen the tree itself.

I must have returned home with a grin to rival the Cheshire Cat, because Wendy just stopped and smiled, saying, "I love your face."  I can only guess she was seeing the glee and exuberance and not necessarily the pleasing physical features.  Of course, we then packed up the girls and went to the strawberry fields to pick.

One of the lessons that I take from all of this is a re-enforcement of something our Nature Teacher has mentioned - we pattern on what we know.  These simple words ring so true in so many more ways than just nature.   I have noticed that I tend to find the same plants everywhere after I have "met" them - hazelnut, mugwort, serviceberry, sarsasparilla.

So, in honor of this abundance, and of my continued growth and learning, I declare this to be the Berry Moon.  Enjoy all the sweetness the month has to give.  Oh, don't forget to spread the sweetness, and share some berries, too.

NOTE:  All of the photos, except the last, were taken in our little 1/4 acre farm.