June Berries
Path
Constance equipped herself with a basket so she could do a spot of foraging on the way home from work!
Leaves
The first stage of berry-picking is lining the basket with fresh leaves which will cushion the berries and protect the basket from stains.
Picking
Gathering berries is one of Constance’s favourite activities in the entire world.
Natural bounty
Rubus ursinus is the local autochthonous wild blackberry. The fruit is small, sweet and ripens in June. The Himalayan blackberry is much more common, but is an invasive species. Constance is glad that I know where the secret patches of wild blackberry are!
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Quimper Hittys 
How very fortunate for Constance too, that she has a taxonomic helper along with her to find the most suitable berries….what a lovely adventure today that you’ve had with Constance.
We are very fond of adventures that culminate in berries for dessert!
Yum, yum! Constance really knows how to find wonderful surprises!
She does! They are not easy to find, having mostly been elbowed out by their more vigorous cousins.
What a great idea to line the basket with leaves before the picking begins. Constance was a genius in coming up with that great solution. Our local cedar waxwings and blue birds have their eyes on all the local berries and dine on them with relish. Constance looks so pretty with her pink beads and brown dress. Hope she makes something scrumptious with those yummy berries.
We learned that tip from the story Hitty, who went picking wild raspberries with her first little girl Phoebe. Hitty was allowed to ride in a basket until it should be time to yield her place to the raspberries. “She had lined it with plantain leaves that felt pleasantly cool and smooth”
Oh My! It’s time for me to re-read Hitty. The perfect summer read.
such a clever girl to line her basket and such a clever human to know where those delicious berries are! Such fun photos.
We are all pleased with the results of our day’s picking! Berries and cream for dessert are heavenly!
We’re not sure whether we have wild blackberries or wild dewberries, but they are stealthy devils, springing up in shrubbery, ready to grasp the unwary ankle. We benefit, of course, but they are invasive. Still, we enjoy eating a handful, warm from the garden. I’d love to join Constance on that path…the road goes ever onward.
It is a pretty road, I like getting down to Constance level to see the world from her perspective! These berry vines do trail around too, but are not invasive like the Himalayan Blackberry is. We’ve been hoping some wild blackberries would appear in our native plant hedge, but since they haven’t on their own, I might sprinkle a few precious berries in there and see what transpires.
I just love the first photo in this story. Is reminiscent for me for some reason. So sweet. Yummy, too. The basket of blackberries is beautiful (the basket is beautiful, too). Celia
Thank you – I love that view down the grassy path too.