My wife and I took my kids blueberry picking this weekend for the first time. They're 3 and almost 2 and absolutely love berries of any type. As I stood there watching the two of them gorge themselves on berries as they picked them, and still managing to fill up their own little berry buckets, I really felt proud. I know without a doubt that there are a lot of kids out there who would be utterly devastated if their families ever had to "resort" to forraging or living off the land. Thankfully I have two little ones who get excited when dad goes out fishing, love to pick produce out of the garden, love to collect berries and wild foods, and don't whine and cry for over processed crap food when we go to the store. I can't imagine how difficult subsistance living would prove for parents whose kids only want food if its got Chester Cheetah on the bag or says "flavored with..." on the packaging.

Next weekend we're going to pick some wild asparagus!

When I was little around 3 my mom use to take my sister and I berry picking and we loved it. We did this until we moved to FL 3 years later : ( I remember having my own basket, that we made with my grandmother, and filling it half way and then eating the other half. My mom or grandmother would make jams and pies out of what we picked. I throughly enjoyed this and would love to go back and do it again someday esp when I have kids.

Thats great to hear.

Thats what my two are like, for now anyway. They are fast approaching secondary school age so i'm not sure how long it will last.

Heres hopeing.

I'd recommed that any parent who has the ability to do so, gets there kids out into the outdoors whenever they can. Mine can argue like cats and dogs indoors, yet once they are out in the woods, they are so occupied, they forget about the "war of the stolen make-up" they were having hours before.

Girls.

CX.

lol, we used to always go picking berries and wild fruits too. you dont see many people do it anymore.

one thing i always did when picking berries is to look for maggots...dont wnat to eat them

Lol, that is pretty cool I guess.

I've never really heard of berry picking, well I have but just as common as the word turtle pops up in daily conversation I suppose.


Good luck with the asparagus though!

I think, if the SHTF... you could find me seeking refuge in the local walmart, with a beard old clothes on and a broom keeping the cake department in my occupation!

But you really never know how you'll truly react when hunger kicks in...

I always tell my two not to pick anything below about 2ft.....

Far too many dogs in our area who like bushes if you get my drift.

Similar to the age old top tip of "Don't eat yellow snow!".

CX.

Ah good stuff mate
I'm glad you kiddies like to get involved , I don't have any of my own , but it seems like you have a happy healthy bunch there
This may be slightly off topic but I'm working on an asparagus farm at th e moment

we used to take the kids out to pick strawberrys. They sold the berrys based on weight. I remember thinking if they weighed the kids before and after, it would break my bank. Thankfully, they wore red shirts to hide the evidence.

Foraging is such an easy skill and Berry Picking makes for one of my more favorite seasons. My family gathered wild berries every late Summer/early Autumn and would make pies, jams, preserves et cetera. Now that I am grown up and have a child, I do the same with her. Wild blackberries and raspberries are her favorite, although wild strawberries used to be her personal favorite. She's been picking berries for 9 years now, and even though she's addicted to her cellphone, video games, and being a typical 12 year old, all it takes is mentioning berry picking for her to drop it all!

Actually, you don't have to limit yourself to just berries either. Any kind of wild fruit can be used fresh, although they are generally more tart than domestically grown varieties so they taste better canned or as preserves. Plums, Pears, Apples, Apricots, Peaches, et cetera.

Remember, if you keep Canned Preserves in a cool, dry place they will keep indefinitely so long as the seal remains intact.

I have found that since I "try" to give my son more natural foods, though not always. He prefers it.

In fact, he tends to not like the store bought stuff, and can even pick out the local stuff over the store fruit. He can tell the difference.

Last year was a blast, but I can't seem to get him interested in berry picking this year. *sniffles*

Last year I couldn't figure out what happened to my carrot patch. It was still early in the season and they had been less than 6" long (most 2-3") and they had all disappeared. Then my wife pointed to our two daughter who looked guilty and I learned that they had spent the day picking and eating well over 50 carrots between the two of them.

This year Our three kids 6, 4 and 1.5 all helped pick rasberries and nanking cherries. The oldest one helps with tomatoes and lettuce. All three shelled peas. They seem to love the fresh fruit and veggies way more than store bought.