Salmonberries – the first to ripen each year.

The masked woman at our door held out a large yogurt container.  “I told Nyel I’d bring these over,” she said in her distinctive New Zealand accent.

Berries!  Almost every kind our Peninsula offers, lovingly picked through each of their seasons.  “I start with the salmonberries in April or May,” she told us.  “They are always the first.” In addition were blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, salal berries, and red and black huckleberries — picked throughout the summer, poured onto cookie sheets for freezing and, finally, mixed together and packaged in thirteen  24-ounce yoghurt containers.   A winter’s supply!  Unless, of course, you give them away because … because you are Rose Power.

Wild Blackberries

When we remarked on the numbers and the variety, Rose just shrugged (and probably smiled behind her mask.  “I consider myself a hunter-gatherer,” she said.  “I love doing it!”

“Are you continuing to pick?” we asked.  “Are there any berries still out there waiting for you?”

“Maybe a few black huckleberries, but berry-picking season is really over,” she said.  She didn’t mention that when the rains begin (as they did a few weeks ago), any remaining blackberries begin to mildew.  But she did say that she didn’t get any thimbleberries this year.  “They aren’t abundant, but I usually get a few.”

Rose’s bounty to us — still frosty from the freezer!

And now?  “I’m spinning like mad. ”   And knitting.  I’m knitting gloves.  I just took eight pair to BOLD and Danika called yesterday and said someone had come in and purchased five pair!  So, I’m back to making yarn!”  And off she went  — our lovely friend Rose, an earth mother for all seasons!  What a treasure she is and how lucky we are to call her a friend!