You've Got To Be Quick!

As the weather improves during the Spring and Summer, delicacies start to appear in the flora of Western Washington. Some of the earliest things to ripen are the strawberries and salmonberries (an orange raspberry-looking fruit). It's nice to be able to grab a handful of these treats and take in their freshness and flavor. It is a rite that has gone on for thousands of years.

I've noticed in old picto-graphs that there weren't many fat Natives and I think I know why. If you don't beat the birds and animals to the dinner bush, you're not going to get many berries to stuff in your waiting pie hole!

Why do I know this? A week and a half ago, I had a bush full of nice salmonberries at the edge of my stone patio. I mean there were so many berries that the bush was drooping almost to the ground. I picked a handful and, while not as sweet as raspberries, they still provided that nice kick-off to curing a lack of Spring tuning.

I was leaving most of them on the bush to ripen, since many hadn't quite gotten there yet. Yesterday I decided to try some more, but lo and behold there was nary a non-mangled or missing berry on the bush! The birds cleaned it off as if the berries had those pop-up indicators on turkeys that say they're done cooking! So much for my next handful of Spring finery.

All I can say is that I'm amazed that the Tribes survived with all of this competition for the food. No wonder they were all skinny in the pictures. It's a good thing that fast food chains have sprung up where the berries used to grow and the berries are imported into the grocery stores from around the world. It was hard enough to store up for winter as it was!