Berries

It's that wonderful time of year again... berry time!

This is a Goumi berry. This is the first year it's fruited for us, and I'm pretty impressed with how much fruit it produced! The ripe berries are pleasantly sweet, with a little bit of astringency that reminds many tasters of persimmons. They have a single pit and look somewhat like very small cherries with speckled skin.

Conan and Moira and Kiah all seem to like them a lot. The deer like the bush and would probably eat the berries too, but we've been keeping it safe with wire fencing.

The salmonberries are ripe now also, and it's a bumper crop this year. Every day when we get home we walk around the perimeter of the yard and pick them. Most get eaten on the spot, but sometimes we are lucky to find enough to put some away in the fridge for breakfast the next morning.

The wild blackberries are just starting to ripen. Looks like a nice crop of them, although there never seem to be more than we can eat of these little jewels.

This morning's berry haul. Clockwise from top: Strawberries, Goumis, the first two ripe raspberries of the season, wild black currants, the first blueberry, salmonberries, wild blackberries, and Gooseberries. Is there anything better than ripe berries fresh from the yard?