Raspberry Delight!!!

It has been about a week since I last saw a wild strawberry.

::insert sympathetic noises here::

There's a bit of good news, however.  It turns out that strawberries aren't the only edible fruits that grow wild around here.  At some point in the past, raspberries elected to start taking root in wild areas, and they can now be found in abundance.  I found plenty just beginning to ripen along the Gitchi-Gami bike trail.

Some, like the one above, were perfect specimens of what a raspberry should look like.  Others, however, had as little as three or four perfectly ripened red seeds (seed pods?  I have no idea what those little juice bubbles that surround each seed are called.), with immature bits alongside them.

The one above, for example, only has two seed pods that have ripened on the entire berry.

The initial response, of course, is sadness.  You think it's terrible that the berry will never reach its full yumminess potential, right?

Well, interestingly, the ones that look like this are the best.  

All of the juice... all of the sweetness gets trapped within those few little bits that actually end up significantly larger than what you would normally expect to see.

The result?  Pure delight. 

Correction:  Pure delight that you don't have to work for, since it grows wild, free, and plentiful.

Score!!!

This area continually amazes me.  There's so much growing out here in "the boonies".  So much wildlife.  Beauty behind every tree stump, every bush, every rock.  Indeed, the rural North Shore area is a place that makes you feel as though anything is possible if you're willing to rough it just a little.

And perhaps I may.

But until that time comes, I'll be happily nibbling on raspberries plucked from the forest.

In all honesty, though, can you blame me?