So, the other day I was working from home and at lunch I decided to go for a stroll around the neighborhood with my son. Low and behold, as I turned out onto Lee Hwy., I saw her. An older woman with a sweat rag wrapped around her neck. She was picking wild blackberries on the side of the highway. She was grunting a lot, and with the presence of a sweat rag I deduced that this was serious and hard work in the Virginia summer sun. In fact, my husband Andrew pointed out later that day that we frequently drive by people on the side of the highway foraging wild berries.
I think this is great and environmentally friendly to boot!. I am just not so sure that I could ever bring myself to stop running into Wegmans for a fresh, $20 fruit pie when I am in a pinch. It is not so much that I am above foraging on the side of the road as my fellow American blow by me in a car driving 50 mph, but the thought of cooking the stuff exhausts me. And fruit has a short self life when means I couldn't take 3 weeks to finally work up the energy to cook something with the fruit. And don't mention that I could freeze or can the fruit. That seems even more daunting than baking.
Well, if you don't have an aversion to baking, NPR has a great article on modern-day fruit foraging. They even have a map where you can find locations near where you live to go foraging. Maybe you will tun into my neighbor?