Raspberry Day
Halloween used to be my favorite holiday, but now it has been supplanted by Raspberry Day.
This is the day my not-niece and her moms come to my backyard and we go to absolute town on my forest of raspberry bushes.
It didn't used to be like this! When Matt and I moved in to this house 12 years ago, there was one single small, orderly raspberry plot, tucked off discreetly to the side of the yard. It gave us several handfuls of berries! Thanks for setting it up, previous tenants! It turns out, though, that raspberry plants are travelers. 18th century imperialists only wish they were even a fraction as efficient at colonizing independent and already-occupied territory as these motherfuckers are. These things have systematically taken over every single one of my grow boxes, except for one (for now). They shoot up faster than my other crops can grow, towering over them (and me!), hiding them from the sun and sucking up all the nutrients in the soil. I had plans for so many more vegetables this year, but the raspberries? They had other plans. Remember how I started with one single raspberry spot off to the side? Here is what my yard looks like today:
Fortunately:
I fucking love raspberries.
Last year over 50lbs of berries were harvested from my yard. Obviously, this is far more than Matt and I can handle on our own, so we share our harvests with neighbors and friends, and, starting three years ago, started having folks over to pick their own. Specifically, it started with one family that I have known since one of the moms and I went to high school together in Seattle. Dylan Meconis and I go way back to 1999, and my life has been infinitely enriched by the addition of her then-girlfriend, now-wife, Katie Meconis sometime in the late 2000s. They had their first kid weeks before the world shut down for Covid so, while I got to hold her in the hospital before she was even a day old, I did miss her first few years growing up. But then when she turned three the world had opened up enough that I could finally have the whole Meconis crew over to help me with my avalanche of backyard berries! And then I had them do it again the next year. And this year, the third year, I realized we officially had a little tradition going now. RASPBERRY DAY!
Guys? Guys.
I look forward to Raspberry Day all year. It is legit my own personal holiday. I do have an assortment of friends drop by to pick berries during June, and I love that, I do-- but Raspberry Day is specifically when I get to have the Meconis family over and we all pick berries together. Like. Have you ever picked raspberries with a five year old? It's something else. And this year? This year the newest addition to the family got to join! Admittedly, as a less-than-one year old, he mostly just sat on his blanket or a mom's lap, but he was there, gurgling and smiling and watching his older sister fill her mini bucket with berries. You wait your turn, little guy. Once you get a better handle on your dexterity and ability to support your own weight, you'll be out here with your own little bucket, too.
You would think having this many voracious volunteers would create some kind of dent in my berry bushes, but no. No, it does not. After the Meconises left, Matt marveled at how untouched the bushes still looked-- even though they took away over three pounds' worth!!! I know, because I weighed 'em!!!!!!
They're gunna make jam out of them. Last year Dylan showed me how in her kitchen- I'd never done it before! And now, a year later, I am down to my final few jars of our homemade raspberry jam. We have undefined plans to do it again sometime this month. Will this become a new tradition? Raspberry Day at my house and then Jam Day at Dylan's?
I love Raspberry Day.
I love opening up my yard to my friends. I love sharing these sweet little treats with the people I love. I love picking up my not-niece so she can reach the berries overhead. I love trading homemade jam (and ice cream!) jars with my neighbors. I love being connected to my community through the produce in my garden.
I love it. I love it!
I! love! Raspberry! Day!!!!!!!
Comments (19)
Have we talked about Rod Grod/Red Schlop/ Reutegruetze? (it's German, I don't know how to spell it). Raspberries (and/or currants) cooked into a pudding with tapioca, chilled and served with cream. This is where 90% of our raspberry yield winds up every year. Highly recommended.
This is so joyous and BOY do I love personal holidays, traditions and the birthing of your own lore. I love this for you - Happy Raspberry Day! 💜🩷💜
THIS!!! IS THE BEST!!!!!!
Aaaand now I wish I lived near wherever it is you live! I love rasperries. they make great jam/jelly and are wonderful in scones as well...and pretty much in anythng else aside from coffee probably.
I just had some commercially grown raspberries and man were they un-satisfying. Blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, are all at least okay from the farms around here, but the raspberries are just bland as hell. So jealous of your back-yard bounty.
We have berry canes in our backyard, but we don't know what kind yet! We just moved in a year ago, and the previous people had been mowing the plants down. We let them grow, and staked them in the fall, and now they have flowered and have unripe fruits. Soon we will see exactly what they are...
Meanwhile earlier this month we stalked around the neighborhood harvesting mulberries that people were otherwise letting go to waste. Got enough to make 3 mulberry pies.
I think I've still got some vacuum sealed raspberries from last year in my freezer! I should pull them out and make some syrup now that the strawberries are fading.
This post is just so full of joy!! I so wish I could share a Raspberry holiday with you! Also Hi Dylan and the Meconis family! I love and miss raspberries. Gonna have to make sure my boys eat them when they are ready in July. And someday, I hope to have you over in September and we can have a Concord Grape holiday of grape picking and jam making!
This is *such* a beautiful day! Yay for family and friends! This makes me tempted to let my blackberry bush continue on it's attempt to conquer my yard rather than beating it back haha.
Oh god I love blackberries so much and it's the crime-est against nature that their brambles are SO horrible!! Don't be like my wife and I.... trim them way way way back every year or else you'll have to pay someone to keep them from eating your shed, which is our position this year 😭😭😭
my parents had raspberries in the back lane, i loved picking and eating them. those bushes and berries look INCREDIBLE! i want to grow some in my yard but i am very afraid of them taking over the world :D
What a terrific holiday! And such a well-told origin story…i can taste the berries, what a treat
Growing up my adopted grands (the little old couple who took care of me while my parents worked) would take me to their daughter's farm to pick strawberries and it is a core memory to this day. The excitement and joy followed by new batches of strawberry jam. The strawberry pies, the extra grandma and mother love wrapped up with fresh strawberries. I hope the littles experience Raspberry Days as I did our Strawberry Days.
What a wonderful holiday!
When I was growing up in Portland my mom and I would go raspberry picking every year and then we would make jam. My mom kept making it for another 10 or 20 years after I left home. I really miss that jam.
I found you through Dylan's work!!! I have always been a huge fan of Bite Me! and am very much looking forward to the Queen of the Sea sequel!
Starting a petition to make Raspberry Day a national holiday!
I love everything about this ❤️ I used to make jam with my grandmother, but I haven't braved it on my own yet!