Jackpot

I hit the jackpot today. When I saw it just sitting there in front of me, I couldn't believe my eyes. Then I saw more...and more...and more. It was all mine. I wasn't looking for it, and I noticed it only after I had been walking all around it for a little while.

Raspberries.

Raspberries in my own back yard.

Let me explain.

Last year I begged and begged for my mother to bring me raspberries from my grandfather's farm. She kept forgetting, but eventually she brought me four raspberry plants. We planted them, hoping they would grow even though it was too late to be planting them. They did grow, and one plant even gave us a handful of yummy raspberries. This year I have been hovering over them, waiting to see what happens, and we excitedly pointed out the tiny flower buds ready to bloom. Buds make flowers and flowers make berries!

Today I spent a long time behind our back fence pulling thistle plants (weeds). Thistles, in case you don't know, are very sharp and prickly and spread like wildfire. They are hard to get rid of because they spread so easily and they are too sharp to pull even with gloves on if they are big plants.

We had a lot of baby thistles (less than 2 feet tall, not yet having thick stems) because last year the flowers/seeds went uncontrolled. They are in our front yard, back yard, and all along the creek bank behind our fence. So I went to pull them. I found out that if you can get the bottom leaves off the sharp ones using your feet, a stick, or whatever, then you can still pull them. And these thistles pull much easier than dandelions do, so I was able to get the whole root out on most of them. I made huge piles of these thorny thistles, and was losing steam when I noticed something. I never would have recognized it if we hadn't gotten those four plants last year from the farm.

Yup. Raspberries. On the other side of our property, there are lots and lots of raspberries. These, too, have their buds which are ready to make flowers any day. I cleared the tall grass from around a plant only to discover another area of raspberries... and another...and another!

I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot wait to go back there and pick these yummy berries. Just imagine the yummy goodness, and with so many, it will be so much fun to share them!

And to think we never would have discovered these unclaimed bushes if we hadn't just put up our compost bin and seen all the thistles that needed to be dealt with!