Friday, July 22, 2011

foraging and the unwelcome harvest


The sun is shining bright and the temps are rising...not unlike other parts of the country. But I remembered about all those juicy blackberries on the vine on my last bike ride. I had forgotten about them after I injured myself and hadn't been on a real ride in 3 weeks. Sadly, that season has passed but I gave it my best effort. I came across these two places on the way back from one of my foraging excursions. Someone's clothesline and really cool garden structure...and the other pic is of a large pond in someone's front yard, across the street from the other house.




I had seen this apple tree in a small, empty field. It is sandwiched between a new subdivision and an older one. Both are fenced and for whatever reason, this lone tree was secluded. I got really yummy apples from it last fall. This year they are falling off before they are ripe and they're not looking so hot. I was sad because I miss apples and was looking forward to these.

I collected the better looking ones for making vinegar. Crossing my fingers I can get it to work this time.

I also went in search of blueberries. Most are not ripe yet and when they are, the birds take off with them so I got a load of almost ripe ones. They are still really good.

This is my sad little picking of black berries. I was really looking forward to making black berry jam form them but there's not enough for one jar even.

In total, I got 2 lbs of apples, 1.5 ounces of blackberries and 1.5 lbs of blueberries.

My unwelcome harvest came from the blueberry picking...chigger bites.

So much better than last year. I had about 60-70 bites last year and only 20 this year which is making life much more bearable this go round. I can wear shoes and walk the dogs...it's not really hampering my daily life. They do get really swollen and itchy from time to time but it's not a constant. Thank goodness for small miracles. I am definitely counting my blessings on this one!

4 comments:

purplepear said...

Lovely photos of the countryside but not so sure about the last one. You poor thing those bites look quite nasty. What are chiggers? Thanks for visiting my site.

Anonymous said...

I guess bugs are the one down-side of the country! Even if you spray "off" on you in preparation, then you have pesticide on you! hope you heal quickly! I don't think we have chiggers here. I just looked them up (now I am educated on it!) and they look nasty! love,andrea

Anonymous said...

Oh, I'm glad my bunny gave you a laugh...you probably needed one after your foraging and bugs! love,andrea

Heather and Thomas Mann said...

Your bites look so painful. I am glad you were able to get some fruit... too bad it wasn't more!

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