I've recently become obsessed with local free food. Maybe I'm moving down the freegan path, or maybe it's that our food budget is stretched thin. Probably, I'm just overwhelmed by how much produce is abundant in public areas here. Just today as Scotter and I went for a walk we found a plum tree with delicious plums rotting all over the ground- clearily un harvested we picked a couple to enjoy that morning at the park. At the park we came across a huge patch of black berries, we picked a water bottle full. I came home and enthusiastically started searching for what other berries grow wild in this area: salmon berries, thimble berries, huckleberries (red and blue), and a few varieties of black berries. I even learned that Oregon grape can be picked and made into jelly! I found myself looking up hikes to forage huckleberries, and every time we're on a walk I'm scouring the roadways for free food. My own backyard I just learned has salmonberries and red huckleberries, and LOTS of Oregon grape. Not to mention the wild strawberries we've already been enjoying.

The idea of foraging for food delights me. I'm seriously considering a study in mushrooms for the same reason. Do you get a primal thrill at the idea of hiking through forest gathering food? Maybe I'm strange, or maybe I'm just more in tune! (wink, wink)

I'll let you know how Oregon Grape jelly tastes, and how to avoid getting your arms all scratched up (as they are today) in your pursuit of those truly ripe, sweet and juicy blackberries. And hopefully in a couple of years I'll have a huckleberry patch up in the mountains that I can fondly call “my patch” as other avid huckleberry hunters have.

Fortunately, I have a partner in crime. Scotland loves to taste anything. He happily downs even the sourest blackberries, never minding the seeds. It turns out he has a great vantage point from the stroller for red and black goodness all around. He's started to request “a walk” the same way some kids request “snack time.”