Wild Raspberries

A new favorite activity this summer is wandering the woods just down the street from us.  These wanderings are not necessarily aimless, because we have found a treasure in the woods - wild raspberries. The prickly sprawling bushes grow in throngs here, and the sweet tart berries they grow are in peak season.

While we pick, every one feels free to eat as many as they like at the time, popping them directly from the plant to their mouth.

Even after that, there are still plenty of berries to bring home.

And after eating wild raspberries on ice cream and waffles and pancakes and just by themselves, there are still plenty left over. Which in my world can only mean one thing.

Jam.

So several evenings have been spent mashing berries over heat, mixing in sugar and canning the sweet deliciousness that is homemade wild raspberry jam. The rumble of glass Ball jars in boiling water has been the background noise of the week.

(Although to be completely honest, I haven't canned a thing since I was a small girl helping my mother can tomatoes in Utah, so I had to learn to do this on my own.)


 There are now rows of filled jars on my kitchen counter, waiting to be sent to loved ones. There is also plenty of jam to be kept and eaten when summer has past.  There will be a cold wintery day in the future where I open a jar of wild raspberry jam and taste not only the berries, but the hot summer afternoon on which they were picked.