About the Berries

On Sunday I plucked and ate a berry from the tree at the wetlands. I was reminded of all sorts of stories about berries. In Finland you could taste any sort of berry that you liked; most can be eaten, and the ones that can't won't kill you. People in that country were crazy about berries and I could not forget the sight of the lady at Lautasaari squatting in the trailside, making short work of the berry bush and eating the berries as soon as she had plucked them. She looked as happy as a lark because at that moment her life is all about the berries. I remembered hearing about Thai people ferried to Finland just to go to the forests to pick berries, which was why we went hiking in the forest and scarcely saw any berries. I saw cloudberries by a railroad near Vaasa, but did not dare to touch them; I only realised they were edible afterwards. People like us grew up eating supermarket stuff and have always been cautious about wild berries. On Sunday I was not so sure about that berry, but decided to eat it anyway. Today I am still alive, so that probably means it worked out well.