We are blessed to live in the beautiful environs of the Evergreen State. The Pacific Northwest is home to many wild berries and as kid who grew up in the concrete jungle of San Francisco, I never fully understood the zen of picking wild berries because I had never been exposed to them. Berries were fruit we bought in the grocery store.
Now at this time of year, the berries are exploding with ripeness on most area vines. Thankfully, we have tons of berries growing right on our property and on our road. I recently discovered thousands of berries behind and around my place of work--just falling off the vines for anyone to pick and enjoy.
Today I picked some on my break at work and enjoyed some and brought the rest home for my wife and inlaws.
The family ventured to a local farm where you pick your own blueberries and then pay for them by the pound, at a fraction of what grocery stores will charge you for berries not HALF as good as these. What bliss! Last time they came home with 8 pounds and this time I think it must be 10. We put them on oatmeal, cereal, in homemade waffles and pancakes and my wife Sarah makes the best berry syrup I've ever had in my life. And of course, we eat them just by themselves--a few or a bowl at a time. Blueberries are one of my favorite "Super Foods" and one that can be eaten in large quantities with little harm to the belly or anything else. You can't eat too many, to be honest.
I love the incredible abundance of the berries, too. You could pick them for days and weeks non-stop and still there would be more for others to pick. Berry vines are a nice lesson in the abundant nature of life and the Universe. There really are no shortages in nature. Not very often, anyway, and not under normal conditions. The normal state IS abundance. Abundance of leaves and berries and birds and so much more. Everywhere you look, the abundance of the Universe is evident.
I love the zen of picking wild berries.