In the Garden - Foraging for Berries, the Special on Nature’s Produce Aisle - NYTimes.com

• By ANNE RAVER

  Published: July 3, 2008

• I’VE been feasting on wild black raspberries every day as I walk down to the stream with my dog, Wolfie, at our family farm in Maryland. The wild brambles seem to grow best along the sunny edge of the meadow where it meets the trees near the water.

  I follow one of the meandering paths that Rock, my boyfriend, started clearing years ago, so we wouldn’t have to climb through a tangle of thorny canes and poison ivy. Now we can stand right next to the arching canes, picking only the perfectly ripe berries. We leave the green ones to sweeten up.

  There are all kinds of wild fruits ripening at this time of year — not only raspberries, but also mulberries, sweet and sour cherries, blueberries, blackberries, serviceberries, wineberries and elderberries. These delicacies flourish in public parks and arboretums, along quiet country roads, even on shrubs and trees planted in malls and subdivisions.

• Too few people grow up now the way Mr. Allgeier and I did, following grandmothers who knew where to find the best wild elderberries for making jam.