This is a pivotal moment in the wildfood year, in my part of the world. The blackberries are blooming. This is generally accompanied by a slinght cold snap, which we call “blackberry winter”, but not a freeze. These flowers signal that wild fruit season is beginning. A time to gather and stock up on a series of abundant wild fruits and berries. . . Wild strawberries, if you can find any, are getting ripe now and over the next several days. Within two weeks, mulberries and serviceberries will be ripe. Then as those are ending, black raspberries will be getting ripe, and they will last until the blackberries are ripe. . . . After that the nuts start to ripen, first the walnuts, then acorns and hicory nuts. During acorn time the red haws and pawpaws start to get ripe, and then the persimmons. And after that it’s winter. . . . Each of those events is an opportunity to stock up on energy-rich food that can easily be preserved. And each of them is an opportunity that can easily be missed for the year if you aren’t looking at the right plants at the right time. So knowing the cycle and seasons and the flow of one harvest into the next is important. . . . #wildfood #appalachianculture #lexingtonky #wildedibles #plantbased #foraging #nutsandberries #stockingup #preparedness https://www.instagram.com/p/BxYnidJFzuq/?igshid=tku05fcyjb32