Raspberry Picking

I absolutely love being able to go out into my garden to pick fruit or vegetables.

My vegetable plot is fairly unproductive at the moment because we are in the middle of redesigning it with paths to divide up the different plots and make it all more manageable. We have already done the soft fruit area and it has made maintenance and harvesting so much easier.

The strawberries haven't been too good this year but the raspberries are fantastic. I particularly like picking the raspberries because it reminds me of happy days as a child going blackberrying. I would try so hard to impress my dad by finding the biggest, juiciest fruits (which where always the ones just out of reach). I later found out that while I was trying to impress my dad with my gathering  skills, he was busy trying to impress my mum under the railway arches with a bit of elicit loving. It does explain why they were both so eager to go on our Sunday afternoon foraging trips when nobody particularly liked blackberries!

Now as I pick my raspberries it makes me smile to think of the young couple that they were back then, stealing moments together to spice up their marriage. It could be part of the reason why they still insist they are as in love as they ever were after more than 50 years as man and wife. I like to think so.

I used the fruit from my harvest to make a big rhubarb, strawberry and raspberry crumble to celebrate Summer Solstice last Tuesday. It may not have been great for the diet but it was definitely good for the soul.