Berries with Vashti and Family

When I walk our dog Skyeball, I naturally keep an eye on things especially berry patches. During the last week the salmonberries (Rubus spectabilis) and wild strawberries (Fragaria virginiana) have really begun to ripen.

Last year I picked a big batch of wild strawberries for Vashti. This year I thought she might be old enough to pick some herself.

I also don’t know if I will have the time this year to do a lot of strawberry picking. I am in the middle of a project (that will be the subject of a future post) that, along with some other things, have eaten deeply into my time this spring. So I thought it would be nice to take a little time off the project and take Vashti out and at least introduce her to strawberry picking and let her get a few berries in the process. She also loves salmonberries and was picking them last year.

Someday berry picking might be a big thing with our family. It is a tradition in both my family and Sacha’s. My dad was a big berry picker and I have heard that Helen’s Buttes in Cow Heaven were named after my Grandma Helen who used to hike up there to pick blueberries. Time will tell. It seems young people have a lot of distractions these days that might steal attention from the boring, repetitive tasks and discomforts and drudgery that can often accompany berry picking on a larger scale.

The object of the quest, the wild strawberry (Fragaria virginiana). We have another species of wild, or native, strawberry, the woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca). As the common name indicates, this strawberry is often found in openings in the woods or at the edges of the woods. From my observation, it blooms and fruits a little later than the wild strawberry (F. virginiana). Also, from my observation, woodland strawberries are nearly tasteless and not nearly as good as wild strawberries (F. virginiana). 

The questor (according to the spell check and regular dictionary, questor isn't even a word).  It took a little while for Vashti to figure out how to pick wild strawberries. They are pretty small and her fingers aren't well coordinated yet. Once she got started though, she gained proficiency quite quickly. 

The family. Vashti isn't trying to share the berry with Phoebe. At the moment, Vashti is struggling with the concept of sharing. Its okay with Phoebe right now though, all she is interested in as far as food goes is milk. 

Salmonberries (Rubus spectabilis). These bushes were just behind mom's house. There were some bushes at the edge of the woods at the back of the pasture that were loaded with ripe berries a couple of days ago but these had been picked clean by robins and other birds by today. Between Sacha, who is just out of the frame to the right, and Vashti, this bush was picked clean of ripe berries in seconds.