We also have a raspberry patch in our yard that we’ve been picking from. The harvest from them hasn’t been as good as years past, but still enough for me to freeze some every other day or so. I haven’t gotten enough to make a batch of jam, but with all of the strawberry jam I have now, I think we’ll be okay. My girls also eat these like crazy, so there isn’t much left after a picking!

My most recent and exciting find are CURRANTS! Our friends from church were over the other night and said they’d been out picking currants. I have read about and seen recipes using currants a lot, but I hadn’t ever actually tried them before. They got me some to try, and they were good! A little tart, but yummy. The next evening I drove down the road about five minutes to where they told me to find them. I was overwhelmed with the bounty before me. That might seem cheesy, but I was getting a little emotional, just looking around at all of the amazing currants before me. It felt amazing to be there all alone on a quiet evening, gathering food that would in some way feed my family. I took my 5 year old with me the next night and she exclaimed, “Mommy, why did God plant these berries in nature?!?!?” I love her. It was a great teaching moment and we had a good discussion. We picked as many as we could and had a fun time together, just the two of us.

We found red, black, and orange currants. Black currants are a super fruit. The list of benefits they offer is too long to even try and condense. If you want to read more about them, just google it. You will be overwhelmed. There were tons of them, it was BEAUTIFUL to see, all of those gorgeous colored fruits hanging in little clusters from the trees. Beautiful. I had to do some reading on what I could use them for and decided to try my hand at jelly. I will do a separate post on that later, but it was fun to do! I want to go back for more so that I can dry some. They can be used in pancakes, scones, granola, etc.

I’ve been busy busy and loving it. My lack of posting shows that I’ve been preoccupied, but I wanted to post so that those who live close to me might take advantage of a little foraging this season too! I encourage you to get outside, see what is around you, and find some treasures nearby. There’s nothing quite like getting free food from the wild. Next up, chokecherries, which will be ready in just a couple of days and are right beside my house as well!