As July comes to a close, Staff Phenologist John Latimer surveys the availability of berries, seeds, and nuts. The results are promising; raspberries, black raspberries, and blackberries are ripe or ripening, Juneberries are still producing, pin cherries are dangling from branches, and hazelnuts are ready for harvest.
If you want to take part in the harvest, get out there and enjoy! Just remember to follow the rules of an honorable harvest, so there will be more for humans, birds, and others to enjoy in the future.
Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Gathering Moss, Braiding Sweetgrass and The Serviceberry, shared them as:
- Ask permission of the ones whose lives you seek. Abide by the answer.
- Never take the first. Never take the last.
- Harvest in a way that minimizes harm.
- Take only what you need and leave some for others.
- Use everything that you take.
- Take only that which is given to you.
- Share it, as the Earth has shared with you.
- Be grateful.
- Reciprocate the gift.
- Sustain the ones who sustain you, and the Earth will last forever.
Happy snacking!
Topics
- Introduction (0:00-0:25)
- Ripe berries, seeds, and nuts (0:23-7:25)
- Wildflowers (7:25-12:34)
- Birds (12:34-14:01)
- Insects (14:01-16:42)
- Conclusion (16:42-17:23)
What have you seen out there? Let us know: email us at comments@kaxe.org or text us at 218-326-1234.
That does it for this week! For more phenology, <b>subscribe</b> to our Season Watch Newsletter or visit the Season Watch Facebook page.
Funding for this project was provided by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).
