Black raspberries are available for only a short time in the
late Spring/early Summer. They grow wild
in shady spots which are usually on fence lines. I know where they grow and that they are
accessible after the first hay mowing in our pastures.
Yesterday, the morning was cool and refreshing before the
beady eye of the sun burned off the fog.
I drove my little utility vehicle up to the hay field, as I do every
other day. A deer ran off,
startled. She was likely browsing on the
tasty little berries. They have delicate
leaves and are not as thorny as blackberries.
I managed to pick a small container, then went down into my fenced
garden where a couple of bushes have planted themselves next to upright
supports. There, probably because they
get watered once in awhile, the berries are bigger and more abundant.
I added whatever blueberries were ripe to the container.
A young red cardinal was trapped within the bird netting
cage that protects the blueberries (supposedly) from birds. He kept flying into the netting in his panic
at my presence. I was able easily to
pick him up and take a good look. Nature
is an artist.
I let him go outside of the netted cage and he flew off into
the big arbor vitae, singing his mating song.
I’d like to think he was singing it to me in gratitude for letting him
go free without harm.
One day soon, the black raspberries will shrivel and dry
out, as will their leaves. By then, the
blackberries, which are hanging large and red, will have ripened and will want
picking.
