Natural Bounty (shhh, it's a secret)

Kind of an odd tangent to go off on, but I am continually amazed at how sheltered and, unfortunately, ignorant "most" people are about how many wonderful things are available for the picking, growing wild all around us. First off, I say "most" because A) I don't know everyone, and B) I'm only referring to folks I do know. What I mean is, there are fruits and berries all around us waiting to be picked and made into a whole variety of scrumptious things that they have no idea even exist. I work in a building that is right next to a big, protected wetland. Blackberries, wild grapes, wild strawberries and - how I have no idea - a whole stand of Ornamental Plum trees grow in mass profusion there. Every year I pick literally gallons of blackberries, a pint or two of wild strawberries and several quarts of the plums. The grapes are ripening now, and since I have no clue of how to make wine, I just walk the paths during lunch and pick handfuls of them to snack on as I walk back to the office. I have never seen ONE other person out there picking anything. I will sit at my desk after a lunch spent harvesting with a pitcher brimming with succulent berries at my elbow, and the reaction is always the same, even after four years. "Wow - those are incredible! Where did you get them? I love those, can I have one?" And every year, I point out the window and say, there are millions down there, just go pick some! No one ever does... I actually had one person come in the next day after walking and say "I didn't see that many so I left." I picked two pitchers full the following day. Go figure. Maybe it's because I grew up in a family that gardened and went berry picking every year, but to say that I'm a Country Boy is kind of silly. I've lived in the city since the day I left home, but I still see the nature even though it's surrounded by development.

Another example is when I did the Perry Road Race this spring in Perry, GA. The registration tent was right across the road from a whole line of huge, mature pecan trees. The ground was carpeted with nuts, and I found that most of them were good. I gathered up as many as I could stuff into my pockets, then sat there and munched on a bunch more. No one else even seemed to notice... There are lots of other nuts I gather each year - black walnuts, hickory nuts, some others that I can't even remember the name of but are sweet and delicious. Persimmions grow wild down here and are wonderful to eat right off of the trees. There are apple trees here and there, and even dandelion greens (best in spring when they are young and tender). There are probably a lot more things I don't know about, but I'm learning.

Maybe it's just our society, with everything available 24 hours a day, prepared, prepackaged, pre-cooked and preserved. Why spend an hour sweating in 95 degree heat getting scratched up by berry bushes when you can go to the freezer section and get a pie that's ready in 20 minutes (or 5 in the nuke-ro-wave). Well, that's a question I'll happily NOT ponder every summer while cutting a generous slice of fresh and delightfully delicious pie to go sit on the porch and enjoy as I stare at the woods behind the house. Sorry if there are no leftovers.