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Berry-picking challenges our mettle

Jerry Davis For Agri-View
Jul 11, 2026
8 hrs ago

1 of 6

A squirrel sploots on a maple-tree limb to cool off.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

Picking blackcaps in small containers can easily lead to spills.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

A stem and pieces of an Amanita show where a squirrel consumed the poisonous fungus.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

A male monarch visits a milkweed inflorescence for nectar – not egg laying.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

Quick-freezing black raspberries before bagging them makes using them in small batches easy.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

Sharp prickles on multiflora roses curve backward, making walking through the canes even more difficult.

Jerry Davis/For Agri-View

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Jerry Davis For Agri-View

Our minds and bodies are challenged when going into a bramble patch in quest of black raspberries. Those thimble-shaped aggregate fruit protect their own in so many ways. Blackberries are no more picker-friendly.

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Jerry Davis is a freelance outdoors writer. Contact him at sivadjam@mhtc.net or 608-924-1112 for more information.