Sometimes when you take over a property that has been in a family a long time you have to make decisions that aren't easy.
One of those that John and I had to make was about Maurie's berry patch. He grew raspberries along with red and black currants for years. The raspberries were his pride and joy, he delivered them for Christmas dinner and picked and gave them as gifts to friends in his later years. There was always raspberry jam along with red currant jelly and sauce. Children and grandchildren were enlisted as pickers, if you didn't volunteer you were conscripted.
The berries were grown in a wooden framed enclosure that was covered with chicken wire to keep the birds out. Over the years it was buttressed by various means. Two years ago John and I decided that we had to take most of the frame down before it collapsed and injured someone, ourselves included. Carrick spent hours over several days one Christmas helping take down the roof and rolling up the wire. We also pruned the raspberries and currants way back at the end of that season.
This year we don't have many raspberries due to a raid by some hungry sheep, but the currants have come back, are ripening and look good.
We've decided this year that we'll take cuttings of the currants and grow them in a new berry patch/orchard closer to the new house site. While it's a bit sad to come to this decision, it is a way for us to preserve the family berry legacy.
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