Nature’s Most Suitable Gifts

Freshly picked raspberries

“As some beautiful or palatable fruit is perhaps the noblest gift of nature to man, so is a fruit which a man has in some measure identified himself by cultivating or collecting it one of the most suitable presents to a friend.”
— Henry David Thoreau, from Journals, November 23, 1860

Our friends Diane and Dennis opened their berry crop to me this week.  A lovely day trip to the Skagit Valley, a cool morning, comfortable picking while standing because the raspberry bushes were so tall, and the hugest raspberries I’d ever seen.  They were Tulameen raspberries, plump, firm and sweet.  And organic, too.  The less firm ones made way directly to my mouth — no sense wasting the ones I couldn’t keep.  What a generous gift this was, to share the bounty of their harvest with my friend Carol and me.

Once home, I flash froze my berries.  A way to prolong the summery season into fall and winter.  Lucky me.

Aaahh!