I plucked some tasty Illinois mulberries during a couple of evenings this past week while out jogging and walking. And soon, the wild black raspberries will be ripe and ready here around my hometown of Lebanon, Ill. After that, the dewberries will make their appearance. My mother, who is 96, told me last week that she remembers her mother taking orders for wild berries and sending out my mom and my aunt to gather the little fruits. They lived on a farm north of Lebanon, and berries were plentiful in the countryside. I can picture my wonderful grandmother on an old-fashion telephone, taking berry orders from folks in town, and then handing a couple of metal pails to her girls and putting them to work. I wonder how much of the profits my mom and aunt ate while they were out picking. After all, those berries are darn delicious.
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