Wednesday 22 August 2012

Free Food

sea grape bunchesAs a young girl, growing up in the West Indies there was a lot of free food to to found along the way to school, these included the sea grapes which grew along the coast line. 

And wild strawberries which grew along the hillsides, which formed part of my journey to and from school. Happy Days!!!
This picture show part my journey to school, there is a story waiting to be told  one day. The beauty of this is very little has changed, I just love visiting not sure if I could live there now.









Here in  England I was able introduce my children to the joys of picking free food which included blackberries and apples. The reward for their fruits of labour, get it OK I am no comedian.
 Apple and blackberry pie

The reason I am walking down my memory lane,  this is because my walk to and from work involves passing along a stretch of over grown hedgerow laden with blackberries.
This stretch of land has little traffic so it is not subjected to the fumes from passing car, artificial fertilizers or pesticides.

So today I decided to take along a plastic container and scrambling as carefully as I could  over the brambles,  picked these fresh, sweet not tart berries. If I had though this through I would had bought some gloves and worn long sleeves and trousers, to protect me not only from the brambles but also from the nettles. There is still time to collect a few more tubs as I have found out a little know legend which states that blackberries should be picked before October, apparently legend has it, the devil is said to pee on the berries on the 10th October making them unfit to eat.

How will I be eating my berries, just as they are, no cooking. Yum!!!


1 comment:

mtg said...

I love all berries. And like you I would eat them just fresh, no cooking.
xx
Maya