Fruit....so much fruit

When we bought this house in the middle of December nothing was blooming. I could see all of the trees, bushes, flower beds, etc. but what they contained was an absolute mystery. To be honest I didn't even think twice about it. Little did I know we bought ourselves a small fruit farm! We have grapes, strawberries, raspberries, mulberries, and apples. Last summer I had a baby on June 1st, so yard work was not on my radar. We ate the fruit as we found it and did nothing to care for it. This year we have actively tried take better care of our fruit bearing plants. Our strawberries failed us. We tried to spread them out and add a few more plants, but then the "April showers that bring May flowers" never really happened. We also had frost well into May. Needless to say we were not eating strawberries this year.

A couple weeks ago I went out to look at the raspberries and they were completely lost in a sea of random plants and weeds. I quickly decided that if I wanted them to do better than the strawberries I was going to need to dig them out so they could catch some rays. We've gotten a handful here and there, but nothing to be excited about. Imagine my surprise when I went out today to pick a few and found a whole pint waiting for us! I had my trusty 4 year old with me (ok really, he was just snooping to see what the gas company and the back hoe were doing) and we quickly filled a plastic bowl. He wanted to carry it for me, so I obliged. By the time we got back to the porch (we live in the city people this is not a long walk) the bowl was EMPTY! He ate the entire bowl on the walk back to the house. **gasp** I know....we didn't even wash them or anything! Free, fresh morning snack and a happy kiddo. We can mark this one as a win.