Blogging in Berryland

(With apologies to Bruce Degan.)

We harvested our first blueberries over the weekend ("harvested" in this case meaning "scarfed right off the bush"). This comes on top of the appearance of the first raspberries last week. The bulk of the blueberries will come and go in the next two weeks or so, but the raspberry crop is more spread out, several of the bushes continuing to produce berries until the first frost. Around the Butcher's House, this is a sure-fire sign of High Summer.

There is nothing more pleasant to me than lounging in the hammock and watching the Llama-ettes work their way up and down the rows on a lazy summer afternoon, enjoining each other to only pick "the nice juicy ones". The sentimentalist in me hopes that as they grow older, this will be one of those happy memories they associate with their childhood. The pragmatist in me hopes that their continued fondness for raspberries will aid me in getting them to take charge of weeding the bed.

Speaking of fruits, our grapes are coming along nicely this year as well. I've got an arbor of five or six big vines of, I think, Concords. For some reason, though, every year it seems that just as the grapes are about to fully ripen, something happens to them - they shrivel up and turn odd colors. I don't know the first thing about viticulture, so I don't know if I'm doing something wrong with them to cause this. (Or more accurately, since I don't do anything, whether I'm not doing something I'm supposed to be doing.) Dad suggested that perhaps they're infected with botrytis cynerea, a mold that causes grey rot in unripe grapes, but causes something called noble rot in ripened grapes, a condition that leads to a concentration of sugar and flavor and allowing for the production of dessert wines, including Sauternes. One of these days, I'll figure it out.

UPDATE: Super-sekret message to Steve-O - Better start talking about your tomato crop, or I'll have to start talking about mine......