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Berry Picking

They came, they harvested, they left. The ‘curranteers’, we call them. For a second year running, numbering near twenty this time, they parked their compact urban cars in the farm entrance and stood ready to pick, all smiles and clutching their berry containers. With Hélène acting as a reluctant chief to a motley crew of volunteers, they suddenly morphed into harvest centurions, circling our black currant plants in siege-like fashion. Sitting, kneeling or prone, they diligently picked the ripe fruit. 75 magnificent plans, plying under the weight of berries we would never have gotten around to harvesting, were it not for the steadfast efforts of the curranteers. Black currant picking requires time and patience, both of which are in short supply at the farm at this time – and so we welcome these volunteer pickers as a seasonal godsend. The end result seems fair: one third we keep, another third the ‘curranteers’ keep, and the balance goes to a charitable organisation called Les Fruits Défendus, an urban fruit harvesting collective hosted by Santropol Roulant. Who knows? Perhaps we’ll be able to make it an annual tradition…

Meanwhile, the season’s farm work continues unabated. We’re still planting – to ensure a bountiful crop of fall vegetables – as harvesting intensifies: blueberries, our first carrots, more cucumbers and summer squash. We’ve finally had some meaningful sun, which has dried up field puddles and made our tomatoes ripen. This week’s basket will be a full-on summer one, at last.