Service Berries (woops)

Well, crap.
And possibly also For Shame.

I was all excited to go service-berry picking, early last week, and when I went, I found NOTHING.

No berries (except, literally, one or two – both of which had those fungal “feathers” sticking out of them all over) on the trees, and no sign of berries that had fallen off due to over-ripeness (no berries on the ground, no stains on the pavement, no empty stems where berries may have hung).

I feel like they must have just not fruited this year.

And yet…

According to Hidden Harvest Ottawa, it looks like I actually missed that harvest completely. Apparently they were ripe in early June (a good month earlier than last year).

I feel like a bit of a twit.

I wrote this post the other day about how I wanted to align my understanding of the calendar year with the actual, local events of the seasons as they follow each other.

And then I go and screw up to this degree.

Bad form, Pagan. Bad form. 😦

None the less, there are still cherries around that I can harvest.

What have I learned: Pay more attention. Just because something was ready at X date last year, doesn’t mean it won’t be a somewhat different time this year.

Cripes. I was not expecting a month’s difference in timing. 😦
Still. It’s an excuse to go to Nicastros (where they had service berries last week) or check out the local farmer’s market (which I’ve been wanting to do for weeks, but haven’t yet had the opportunity to visit).
So maybe not everything is lost.

In other news: I have a cucumber-sized cucumber on my vine! YAY! 😀 Give it another couple of weeks (or days – I’ve got hydropnic mini-cukes in my fridge right now) and I’ll be making pickles! 😀

TTFN,
Meliad the Birch Maiden.

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