Raspberries in the Snow

This fall has been one of the mildest I can remember here in southern Vermont. Thanks to a dearth of killing frosts, I’ve been able to harvest my ever bearing red raspberries much later than usual. However, all good things must eventually come to an end…

The demise of my red raspberries (at least for this year) occured when our first hard frost and the first snow storm of the season occured simultaneously last week. Arriving home from work mid-afternoon, knowing snow was on the way, I began the somewhat frenetic process of harvesting all the tender fruits of my labors still left hanging out in the various gardens.

First I plucked all the ornamental gourds from the mesh fence in my back garden; they make great little Halloween gifts. I then crawled around  gathering the last of my ground cherries, otherwise known as pineapple tomatillos. In this endeavour I was assisted (!) by Belle, our half grown Great Pyrenees puppy who has decided she just loves them and eagerly gobbles mouthfuls of the tiny yellow fruits whenever she can.

After depositing the ground cherries safely indoors and hitching Belle to the long run in front of the house, I set out for my Heritage red raspberry patch. By this time the snow had begun and temperature dipped accordingly. As is often the case with first snow, it was wet and heavy, weighting down the heavily laden raspberry stalks and making picking a damp and freezing adventure.

Although it’s not often cold enough for me to wear gloves while picking raspberries, it surely was this day. Soon the gloves were soaked and my fingers turning numb from the cold. Unwilling to sacrifice any of the little crimson berries, I doggedly continued, discovering along the way how brittle the half-frozen stalks had become as several snapped off under the weight of the leaves, berries and accumulating snow.

However, a nice little dish of red raspberries was my reward; a rare treat for almost-November in Vermont. And as it turned out, there was a much larger reason for having picked all my late season crops lurking just around the corner…

Saturday I made my habitual rounds of the local supermarket before returning home to dire forecasts of a snowy Nor-easter heading up the coast. Deciding the pie pumpkins doubling as seasonal decorations weren’t going to do anybody any good buried under a foot of snow, I brought them in preparatory to making pumpkin puree and then headed with Belle out to the little apple orchard next to our main garden.

This too was a happy harvest outing for Belle, who busily sampled dropped apples when she wasn’t busy sniffing at the deer tracks patterning about under the trees. I managed to pick up a good sized bag of my favorite baking apples before heading back into the house.

It turned out to be a Very Good Thing that we’d picked those apples when we did; I only regret that I didn’t pull a few rutabagas while I was at it. By mid-afternoon the Nor’easter had swept in, depositing about fifteen inches of snow by the time all was said and done the next morning.

All that snow may have put a damper on tricks, but my house is full of treats!

My "snow" red raspberries nestled in the center of snowy pumpkins.

Plump apple pies nestle in the freezer, pumpkin cookies are piled on the table, and I’m still enjoying my “snow” raspberries with yogurt for breakfast…a rare October treat indeed. Now I wonder what November will bring…? Until then, Marie

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