Black Currants!
Ripe
Sitka (and the humans!) are thrilled with the crop of Black Currants this year. Apparently they like cool wet springs, followed by a blast of hot weather!
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Morning
We picked a basketful in the morning…
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Afternoon
…and after a long hot day (32 degrees C is hot for this area)…
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Harvest
…there were so many more plump ripe black fruits, we picked another basketfull in the afternoon!
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Plans
They ripen sequentially, and the ripe ones look so beautiful and smell so delicious we are slightly worried that a raccoon might decide to harvest them for us. So, as soon as the berries ripen we are picking them and putting them into the freezer. We have collected 500 g already! I am sure we will double that if the raccoons stay away – plenty enough to make some of our favourite jam!
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Quimper Hittys 
So fun! and will be most delicious. Isn’t it a wonder that if some vegetation doesn’t fare well in certain variations of the climate, others do? So nice to see little Sitka familiarizing herself with what your area has to offer. Would she have had black currants in her area of origin?
I don’t think there were wild Black Currants, but there may have been tame ones introduced to the village gardens. There are other berries though – Huckleberries, Thimbleberries, Salmonberries Strawberries and Salal berries, at the very least.
oh yes, the raccoons are even worse than the deer and they don’t mind climbing over fences.
We hope the raccoons will continue to be oblivious of the deliciousness of our berries – so far so good!
how lovely…so fun to see Sitka at work. Currents are not common to this area. Soon will be blackberry time.
They are not particularly common here either, but we had them when we lived in England, and do love the jam, so thought we’d try and grow some!
Yum! We have a red currant plant in our yard, but I do prefer the taste of black currants.