Today’s adventure in Virginia involved a long ride with Matt and discovering endless raspberry bushes on the side of the road. We went out for about a 20 mile ride – it was actually my first in the area, that tells you how much traveling I’ve been up to :] – and after getting off the busy road that led us out of town we were back in the country, passing farms and beautiful fields. As we climbed a hill and had time to notice what was around us, it was apparent that raspberry bushes with perfectly ripe raspberries were waiting us. Now, there’s nothing like a little break in a ride for some fresh fruit, and it didn’t take long to pop several in our mouths as we enjoyed the respite from the climb. I think I might have noticed first that the berries were different from what I’m used to “up north” – these had almost glossy buds which is a contrast to the softer matte finish of the raspberries I was used to (does that make sense?). Matt thought that maybe they weren’t raspberries “since there were so many and they were all unpicked” but remember, we were on the side of the road up a hill… and it was hot out. Almost hot enough for me to be convinced that they weren’t raspberries, but not quite.
We continued our ride through the country roads and navigated the busy ones -with out any shoulder for us to ride on, yikes! – back into town so we could jump in the car and return to the berries, this time to pick + take home. After all was said + done, we returned with approximately 3-4 pints; I think tonight I’ll dream about the peach raspberry pie I want to make with them. yum yum! ;]
by Mary Dougherty
5 comments