Black raspberries are fragile, small and taste delicious. If they are overripe, they will squish between your fingers.
Picking your own is an option at some berry farms, but beware, black raspberry canes have thorns and the leaves have prickles!
I recently stayed at Geraldine, South Canterbury. It is a picturesque place and while there for a few weeks, I noticed a berry farm where I could go and pick my own berries. I couldn’t resist and drove to the farm which was quite some distance from the main road.
A short time later, I had a container full of berries.
On talking with the farmer, he said there were several blocks of raspberries, each a different variety. Due to the seasonal weather, they were all ripening and he had very few pickers. I offered to help. He asked if I knew what I was in for and I assured him I did. I had worked for several weeks as a teenager picking very thorny berries. It wasn’t a fond memory other than the rewards of eating as many as you wanted.
When the weather was dry, I was at the farm before 8am and went to the area he wanted berries harvested.
It was peaceful and quiet out in the country. Around me were fields of mostly grass and in the distance I could hear cattle calling from time to time. Sometimes there was the far off sound of a dog barking. Nearby were magpies. I seldom saw them, but could hear them talking to each other with their sing-songy calls. I recorded some of their sounds, I’ll post them here.
It’s a little quiet, you may need to turn up the volume.


