Snack Time

We thought we were going to have a raspberry-free summer since someone, not the property owner, trimmed back all the raspberry bushes on the empty lot near our house. (Grumble grumble.) But look what we found while we were out walking the other day...The wild raspberries are out in the State Park and the kids and I had a great time snacking for a while. I think S ate half his weight in raspberries! K didn't care for the seedy texture, so she picked berries for the rest of us. (Thank you K!) This summer we tried to go off the island to pick raspberries and strawberries at local pick-yourself places, (Strawberries in Cheboygan and Raspberries in East Jordan,) but the crops were so poor this year, neither place had enough and were closed to self-pickers. You can imagine how excited we were to come across this patch only a 15 minute walk from home. NO walk to the boat feeling like an mule laden with stuff, no boat ride, no car trip - just a lovely stroll up near the highest point on the island.

Then we found another, though smaller, patch just around the corner from our house. (Nobody has trimmed those!) We've been snacking there every day or two now. The berry crop on the island is poor this year too. Usually my student, M, is able to get enough raspberries to make a pie (and invite her teacher over for dinner to enjoy it) - but not this year. That's O.K. we're content just to snack... There's nothing like a few raspberries to improve the mood of a grouchy napless toddler on the walk home from the sitter's house!

I hope you are enjoying the last fleeting days of summer as much as we are.