Blueberries are peaking here.

The choke cherries are just about ready here. I had a hand full a few days ago and they can be used right now but of course the longer they hang the better they get. There is hundreds of choke cherry trees at the ranch.

I have picked 20 some pounds of elderberry heads in the last 3 days. So far, I have 4 pounds 5 ounces of stripped elderberries, which is close to 1 gallon of berries. Stripping elderberries off the flowerheads by hand is a really slow process. Does anyone know a faster way to do it?



The bush I have yielded a little over 60 pounds last year.

Keith

Raspberry picking at home, a some huckleberry picking going now in idaho. Yumm

I'm going up to check on our mountain huckleberries this week. Wild himalaya blackberries are in full swing right now. The wife picked 25 lbs of them today.

Picked red and white currants today, Keep in freezer till all done , then make jelly. Good stuff. old243

I've thought about elderberry's Keith. I didn't know about them until last year.

Elderberries make good syrup, wine and jelly, if you get the right amount of pectin in them. Elderberries have been proven to shorten the amount of time it takes to recover from the flu. Much of Medieval medicine used elderberries. Many people thought the bushes were magical and protective.

Keith

Yep good stuff. I been picking every time I get to the ranch. They continue t ripen each day.

Some good looking berries, everyone!

I like currants.

I looked today but didn't find any wild blueberries. Must be a bad crop this year. I might be a couple weeks too late though

It's been a bad year for berries here so far. There were virtually no mulberries, which caused my small sour cherry crop to be hammered by the birds.

My wild black raspberries were just starting, when high temperatures and weeks of no substantial rain caused all the second year canes, which were bearing, to die.

I got a lot of yellow raspberries from a start a friend gave me last year. The plant has put up a lot of new canes and looks really good. I have been watering it around every other day. I think it will have a second crop later this Summer.

I was given a red raspberry start last year too. It died to the ground last Winter, but came back. I picked my first berry from it yesterday. It should have a few handfuls more. It has produced a lot of new canes too, which I think will bear this Fall.

I have a lot of strawberry flowers and some small berries developing. I'm watering them frequently and hope to get a decent harvest. I need to protect them from the birds. The birds got most of my earlier strawberries.

My elderberry bush is loaded. I think I'm going to rig top flight netting around it to keep the birds from stripping it. With virtually no other berries in the area, it will be hit hard. I think I can get around 40 pounds of stripped berries off it, if all goes well.

I need to check the elderberries on my friend's farm in the next few days. They should ripen before mine.

I have a decent amount of catawba grapes, but less than last year. I grew them on an arbor made of cattle panels curved in an arch, which they engulfed. I need to figure out how to prune and train them better.

I need to check out some wild plums too.

Good picking everyone.

Keith

I have been picking wild blueberries for the past week. They are pretty good sized this year as they got rain when needed. I can pick a 3 quart pail full in about an hour. They are much better tasting than the cultivated ones.

We've been picking a few blueberries out in the jack pines. They are a little patchy and on the small side this year around here. Wife and I got a quart last Sunday, planning to go again this afternoon. When they're in heavy our bird dog eats them off the plants while we pick.

Cultivated berries don't even come close for flavor.

Already got my raspberry and blackberry jam made here. The deer cut the raspberry picking short ..... found a nice patch and picked a couple of pounds then went back the next day and they were stripped clean. Better luck next year and I still have a ton of blackberries here I can pick. I like eating them straight of the bush when I am out with the dog and even he likes to pick the sweet ones.

We picked enough wild red raspberries for a coffee cake here the other day.

Yep, been picking every other day at the ranch. I'm about done thou it is a tough job for me to get what I get. Mostly on side hills or drainages nothing is flat easy picking. I have over 40 lbs now of different kind of berries. Golden/black current, service/june berry, goose berry and some blue berry. Will pick one more day this coming week and the wildlife can have to rest.

Blueberries won’t be ready here for awhile.
Been foraging on wild strawberries like a bear.

Keith, have you tried freezing the head?

Raspberries at home and black caps in the woods, can't get any froze for winter cause the kids keep eating them all oh well they could be eating worse stuff