#I LOVE WINEBERRIES!!!!!!!!

[milyns-pics]

Blessed be the midsummer harvest, so sweet and full of thorns

[weedlovingweed]

i'm so silly in that as soon as the plants start budding again im like ALMOST MULBERRY SEASON!!! and then i am disappointed for like 2-3 months

[sepdet]

@tangerinebonfire Rather than spam @headspace-hotel 's delightful pawpaw post further, I'm making my own primate post on my favorite target of foraging.

I grew up in rural Pennsylvania nibbling wild raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and tiny blueberries on summer trips to Ontario, chewing sassafras and sipping on honeysuckle, but wineberries were queen. I probably haven't tasted wineberries in 30 years, as I moved away from the east coast in 1996. They're on my shortlist of things I miss after loved ones, lightning bugs, thunderstorms, and beech trees.

Lookit these beauties.

Unlike raspberries, they're meltingly soft. No crunchies. If you pick them unripe, they're tart, but still fairly tasty,

Unripe ones are amber-orange, ripening to lush crimson, which is the perfect blend of honey-sweet and tart/citrus, deepening to pomegranate seed red.

The NYT's Urban Forager blog describes wineberries as a "citrusy wild fruit which tastes like a cross between a raspberry and a California orange" (by which I can only assume they mean something like the 1930s Valencia orange tree in the back yard of my friends in Westminster, CA; store-bought oranges are a different animal). The Guardian's gardening columnist Alys Fowler says...

"…sherbert"

She also irresponsibly suggests planting some right after mentioning finding a forest overrun with them between Lakes Como and Maggiore, and noting her mom's own patch tended to get around. If you look them up in the US, you find a slew of articles lamenting wineberries as invasives, often while admitting ruefully that they're delicious.

Apparently they were/are planted in Japan, Korea and China as ornamentals, not just for the fruit, since the canes turn as red as the berries. Their invasiveness is the only thing keeping me from committing a deadly sin and buying seeds or plants online from unscrupulous suppliers. But I live in California now, and I mustn't.

[the-moon-in-the-gutter]

Thinking about Ifrit spending his free time in the smithing house that is on the property, working on large wrought iron pieces. Benches that curve along paths in the garden. Hand forging ritual daggers for each new antipope, creating intricate hilts that reflect each pope's rise to power.

When he's not working on major projects, he spends his spare time working with Dewdrop's jewelry making supplies. The fire ghoul carefully casting and engraving intricate coin charms, effectively breathing life back into an old tradition. One evening Ifrit was curled around Zephyr in bed, listening intently as the air ghoul recounted memories of his past life. There was a particular theme to that evening, Victorian love tokens, Zephyr had a habit of mentioning them whenever Ifrit was in search of a new project to take on.

Victorian love tokens were smoothed coins, engraved with images or a lover's initials. The tokens were bestowed upon a partner for multitudes of reasons, be it relationship milestones, commemorating a vacation, or as something to be remembered by while their other half was away. Zephyr recalls ones he had in his past life fondly, the coins on a chain bracelet that commemorated each of his roles in the theatre. Bestowed upon him by an admirer at the end of the final show in a run of performances.

This recollection sparked the idea in the fire ghoul's mind, setting out to the smithing house early the following morning to cast coins in gold and silver. Spending hours hunched over the small work table, engraving intricate designs before including his name on the back side. "Ifrit" engraved in the effortless, airy script of the air ghoul he called his mate. The delicate strokes that took the air ghoul seconds to scrawl onto a gift tag, but upwards of a half hour for the fire ghoul to mimic with a dremel tool.

Later that afternoon, he returns to the main grounds of the abbey with a simple box in hand. The box was hand carved from two pieces of silver ash, the inside lined in a pale blue silk. Ifrit had carved the box months before, when he had decided to take up learning wood working from Ivy. The fire ghoul knew exactly where his mate could be found, basking in the warm sunshine that settled on the garden. As he approached the winding path he laid eyes on the air ghoul, the sun glinting off his gold and silver jewelry, a halo cast by the few flyaways of ice blonde hair escaping his braid.

Each afternoon the pair would rest and recharge in the sun, something that Ifrit referred to as "lizard time" for the air ghoul who has spent his morning in the cold of the infirmary for pain management treatment. Zephyr would sit, eyes closed as the sun warmed his aching body, heating the black clothing and heavy flannel lap blanket he used when in his wheelchair.

Ifrit cleared his throat, alerting the air ghoul to his presence as he settled into his favorite spot. The warmth of the sun had heated the iron bench, allowing for the fire ghoul to find relief of the pain that found itself settling into his spine from being hunched over for hours.

"I knew it was you my flame" Zephyr smiled, opening his eyes slightly to take in the sight of his mate.

Ifrit laughed softly, "You never know, those pesky jackdaws might have evolved to shape shift and we just haven't seen it happen yet."

"Even if they have evolved that ability, I doubt they'd be able to mimic scents. I'd know it wasn't you because they would smell of Sunny's wineberries and not of the charcoal used in the smithing house" the air ghoul jested, turning slightly to face his partner.

"One of these days I'm going to find a way to smell like wineberries just to trick you" Ifrit grinned, watching the sunlight dance off the air ghoul's jewelry in mesmerizing waves.

The fire ghoul placed the small ash box into the hands of his mate, the exchange of gifts were always wordless between the pair, as all that could be said was already known. He watched as the air ghoul carefully lifted the lid of the box, lithe fingers caressing the silk lining before lifting the bracelet from the box. No words were spoken as the air ghoul studied each of the tokens, only four had been placed upon the simple chain bracelet.

"Ifrit... you did all of this just for me?" Zephyr spoke after a long moment spent in awe. Each thin coin was cast from silver and gold, the intricate designs that represented milestones to the pair of ghouls.

"Of course, it was the way you were describing them last night put the idea in my head and I had to see it through" Ifrit spoke, carefully clasping the bracelet around Zephyr's wrist, ensuring the fit was perfect.

Zephyr turned his wrist slowly, getting a feel for the material of the bracelet. "It's far lighter than I remember them being" the air ghoul chuckled softly, the jingle of the charms accenting the love brimming in his tone.

"I made sure to cast the coins thinner than usual, which does make engraving a bit more difficult. But I wanted it to be a piece that was comfortable for you to wear," Ifrit said, his hand finding one of the charms and turning it to the back to show his name.

Zephyr smiled, the light jingle of his bracelet as he moved his hands to the wheels of his chair to test his movements, "And they don't hang too low so I can wear it when I'm in my chair"

"I made sure to keep mobility aids in mind when I made the charms and attached them, I wanted you to be able to carry a piece of me everywhere you go. No matter what" the fire ghoul explained, watching as his mate marveled over each of the coins.

Zephyr pulled Ifrit closer by the lapels of his thin jacket, lips capturing the fire ghouls and stealing the words away from his mate. No other words were needed, just an expression of love and gratitude.

[norcumii]

Wineberry plants are nightmare bastards.

I’m sure they’re lovely in their native habitat, but they’re invasive here and I can’t pull the damn things out of the fucking ground and they are nightmare bastards.

UGH.

[ahedderick]

   I don’t make jello all that often, but yesterday we were having a summer-picnic kind of dinner, and it seemed to suit. I dumped mandarin orange pieces, wineberries, and a few black raspberries into orange jello. This morning I need to figure out what to do with six pounds of wineberries picked last night. I’m going to freeze some, but I’m also considering making a small batch of jam. If I’m really ambitious, I’ll try straining the seeds out of the cooked fruit; it is a nicer product without seeds. Also, if it goes hilariously wrong somehow, I will be sure to write you an essay.

   (Do you know how much I love you? Some days the nice notes I get on Tumblr are my only non-family interaction.)

[whatwouldmickeydo]

Hey treasure! 💖🐮I got a few questions for you if that's cool? If not I'm just here to tell you I adore thee <3

when you look at pictures of yourself as a teen or younger adult, do you generally feel like, yeah I looked cool, or are you staring at your side-pony and crimped bangs like 😐? (fwiw I am a side-pony fan)

have you ever had a professional massage and would you again?

Did you ever go to summer camp as a kid? Did you ever want to?

😘 🖤

Hi beauty hi how are you I love thee I hope your Tuesday is going well! 💗✨💗✨💗

1. I cringe at everything I’ve ever worn. What was I thinking. Who let me leave the house like that. Why did I wait so long to get contacts. Why did I insist on tying my hair back so tightly. I like to think I’m making up for it now by replacing clothes with things that bring me joy and make me feel good in them, so hopefully in a few years I’ll look back and actually enjoy my clothing choices 😂

2. I ADORE massages. I would get one every week if I could afford it. Listening to nice, calming music while some person with strong ass hands massages all the tension out of my body with nice smelling lotions? Yes please.

3. I went to summer day camp every single summer for as long as I can remember and LOVED every second (except for when Rebecca stole my backpack and hid it in the woods. Fuck you Rebecca!!)

I’ve also been a camp counselor and that was probably the best job I’ve ever had - running around outside teaching kids about foraging for Japanese wineberries, playing four square and gaga, hiking, making friendship bracelets all day. Take me back to a simpler life!

[not-a-snowman]

Callout post for the Worst Plant

JAPANESE WINEBERRY Screw this plant. Here I am trying to take a lovely hike through the Pennsylvania wilderness and what horrid beast has crawled up from the depths of hell to grab at my ankles?  Japanese Wineberry. It’s ugly, it’s bright red and covered with thorns, it grows in arcs that are seemingly specifically designed to ensnare your foot and trip you, it’s EVERYWHERE, and just to top it all off IT”S INVASIVE TOO. Horrible plant -1000/10, kill on sight.

[clatterbane]

They mostly went away with the colder weather, but yes I am still a tad paranoid about fruit flies. The lid can stay for a while. Part of the reason I keep using those classy IKEA juice glasses that it fits on, tbqh. 😵

A little Saturday night tipple: another fairly recent hooch experiment, concocted out of what was left in a bottle of high-juice blackcurrant drink concentrate (where currants are "wineberries"!) mixed with an amusingly named herbal tea claiming to be hibiscus-blueberry-sea buckthorn.

At least to my tiny Anglophone brain, "AAH" sounds more like a tonsil exam than anything else. And I haven't had any of those since ca. 1980. Also, the manufacturers are the ones who chose that capitalization, and I am just running with it. Because how could I not.

That was a new type of yeast I was trying, and it certainly did the job. I'll have to try it side by side with another strain I know better to say how it might be affecting flavors.

This batch turned out pretty enjoyable, though the berry flavor in that AAH tea is leaning a little perfumey after it's fermented too. Not sure I'll get more of it, but I had to try when I saw it. I do love hibiscus.

Just throwing in the latest crazy shit that Spotify's algorithm has decided to feed me, because it's sort of funny. And evidently from a supergroup started by some dude here in Malmö. Apparently tonight we are getting another strange mix of Swedish-language punk and assorted older pop and synth type stuff.

[deaneybabyinc]

took a hour and a half long mental health wilderness walk come and join me. look at these cool things i found outside

cool bug with the wineberries

bigass cool mushroom. there were two of these in a line it was like a portal

this tiny thing was so so small. no idea what it was

man i love all fungi

i took a picture of this thinking it was a creature but now i think it’s just some wood. i got nessie-d

[ettawritesnstudies]

Hi scholar

I'm doing blorbo Friday, so what food preferences your blobos get from you, and what do they not?

For Runaways, I gave each of the girls one of my favorite foods to associate with them

Hannah gets hot chocolate. I loved it as a kid and its still my comfort drink today. I live off of tea and coffee but hot cocoa is my special treat - either the little packets I had as a kid at the donut socials after church and after sledding and shoveling snow, or the decadent recipe my college roommate made. It's very homey and comforting and fits the character that represents Home the most

Cecelia gets wild wineberries. We used to pick them growing behind our garage in the woods behind our house and across the street, gathering buckets and getting scratched by the thorns. She's sweet and looks like something domesticated (raspberries), but she's really wild and trying to drive others away from her. Only the most dedicated can get to the reward of knowing her

Tess gets fresh homemade bread. When she gets home, she has a lot of hard adjustments to a loving, healthy, family and needs to unlearn a lot of the harmful violent behavior she learned from the Piper, so her mom lets her take out her anger on kneading bread dough. She starts baking as apologies and olive branches.

thanks for the ask!

[juliasforza]

2/9/23: The moss is living its best life these days. It doesn’t mind mild and gray days. I was enraptured by thorns today because there wasn’t much else that I noticed. When I did start looking at them, I got completely submerged. How fantastic thorns are! So efficient!

I love how mean multiflora rose (top left) is. Practically medieval! That's barberry (top right) with needles that are not terribly stiff but there are many of them. Wineberry (bottom left) is covering all the bases, with heavy coverage of all kinds of thorns. And black caps (bottom right)m which are actually very gentle, and their threat isn't very serious.

There's also a lot to learn about thorns: https://www.wnps.org/blog/spines-prickles-and-thorns

[badlaw]

i love living here my friend called me and was like where are you...do you want to hop a fence to pick some wineberries and then we picked berries and saw a deer and i stayed over at her place and we watched paddington

[eiders]

it’s finally wineberry season!

[rcguna-archived]

“There! Finally done picking all the berries.” He’s more than happy with the contents of the small barrel. Filled with vibrant reds and...

“A lot of little bugs in there. Guess I better get to washing them next...”

[lifecyclesofmayflies]

Wineberry jam from berries right in the yard!