Raspberry Lessons

When we moved into our house, my husband got the job of trimming a privet hedge. This seemed like a thankless, never ending job to me. We replaced some of the back hedge with raspberry bushes. They are a lot more productive than privet and far less work. They have taught me lots of lessons and affirmed a number of fairly trite sayings. As I pick the raspberries on summer mornings my mind wanders and I think how good it would be if people could see the reality of those sayings. We have all seen the books that are titled "Everything I Needed To Know, I Learned -- " Well this is what raspberries have shown me about life.

It has taken us years to get the bushes as good as they are. At first we planted red raspberries along with some wild black raspberries. I finally realized that the red raspberries made really pretty pies, but the black ones kind of stuck out among the red and weren't as large or sweet. We have gradually removed most of the black bushes. We will probably continue working at this for a long time. '" Learn from your mistakes.

Our raspberry hedge is infected with three weeds. While morning glories are pretty in their place, they wrap around the raspberry bushes and pull them down. I have been working at eliminating the morning glories for several years, and probably will for several more. '" If you didn't want it there any plant can be a weed

There is also Bamboo, which is almost impossible to eliminate, and another fast spreading low weed which I have pulled every spring without much problem. But this year I didn't, and paid the price. The weed grows up with a flower and some spiky parts that made my skin turn bright pink and tingle. - Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

We make an effort to keep our raspberry bushes in row less than a yard wide. This is harder than it sounds since raspberry bushes will wander if left to their own devices. It is a slow wander, but it is a wander. I try to tell them that they won't ever make it across the alley to our neighbor's fountain, as I weave the branches back towards the house. I do this because I know that the prettiest, ripest, nicest berries are always on the other side of the hedge. '" The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence '" This is not true. It is only easier to see those ripe berries across the hedge, while missing the ones right beside me. With a narrow hedge I can reach the berries across and if I pick up the hedge and back and then do the same on the other side. It is hard to see the ripe berries among the leaves on the bushes.

Since the berries hide underneath leaves, I have to look both high and low. As I stand with my behind hanging out in the alley, looking up at the lower branches, I find beautiful ripe red berries, just below my line of site. Perhaps it is smarter to look at what you have at home from more angles, so that you can appreciate it better. There are more low berries than high ones, because the birds can see the berries that are on top. I try to think of the birds as "gleaners" rather than hogs that will cover other people's cars with raspberries. A garage made me more charitable about that, but I wish they would quit yelling at me while I pick.

Another lesson that the raspberries taught me is that when something is ready, it is really ready. If there are several berries that are ripe in the same area, you have to be careful when you pick. If you don't watch the berries next to the one you are picking will fall before you can catch it. When something is ready, there is really nothing you can do to make it wait around for you. While you can hold two or three raspberries in your cupped hand, if you try to hold them tightly, you will end up with a sticky mess. It is better to get one or two nice raspberries than a mess '" You can hold on to someone best with an open hand.

If you have to tug almost at all, the berry isn't ripe. Although the sunlight may make it appear to be ready, it really isn't. Sort of like pre-teen and young teenage girls, who put on lots of make up and dress like they were older. They really aren't mature. The berries aren't as deep in color or as flavorful. They will come off the bush with a tug, but I wish I had left them, even though I am fairly certain that the birds will eat them. '" You often have to wait for the good things to be ready.

My raspberry bushes have thorns, which occasionally prick me, but mostly, I escape the thorns, by reaching around the bush to pick and by moving slowly when I am reaching into the middle of a bush, I usually come away with no scratches. If I try to reach through the bushes to some , I find that sometimes my depth perception has fooled me and I have to reach a little farther than I thought I needed to reach. It isn't hard, but it is interesting how my eyes can deceive me. - Things aren't always they way they seem to be.

Because we have lots of raspberries for a short period I freeze zip lock bags full to use later. To do this I put a 9" x 13" cake pan in the freezer and spread a days picking into it. The next day, I transfer those berries into the bag and refill the pan. In the winter I use those berries to make raspberry vinaigrette which is wonderful on salads. I also usually make two raspberry tarts with a shortbread crust in my 9" cake pan. We eat one now and freeze one for Christmas. The other thing that I make which is wonderful is cold raspberry soup. I puree 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 to 1/2 cup white grape juice with 4 cups of raspberries, in the food processor, then strain that through a fine sieve to remove the seeds and whisk in 1 cup sour cream. Voila '" "nectar of the gods". I look forward to it every summer. I may try it in the winter with frozen berries. I have been working on a recipe for a cheese cake like, chocolate raspberry recipe that is really good, but I need to get a little more exact on my measurements. The first time it was extra good and the second time it was passable. There are so many possibilities, but now the bushes seem to be pretty much done for this year. '" When it is over, it is over.