What do raspberries have to do with anything? Raspberries are just about my favorite food. I consider it heaven on earth when I get something with real raspberries. My great-grandmother and I would bake together and whenever she volunteered to make something for my birthday, graduation, or other special occasion, I’d always ask for her home made raspberry kuchen, made from a family recipe.

On Tuesday Hannah and I went over to a friend’s house to pick raspberries. This brings back memories of my childhood. My grandparents owned a farm and had rows of raspberry plants. We would pick them any time we were over there and it was a great treat and none of us viewed it as work. One of our biggest treats was to have ice cream with crushed berries on top of it.

My kids love raspberries as well. Hannah thought it was a great treat to get to go picking berries, and she likes the friends whose house we were at. “Miss Lois” is a shoe fanatic and that alone endears her to Hannah.

“Mister Bryan” took her out to cut some flowers for me to take home. It was a nice experience, especially since she’s been a real stink lately.

Kids bond through scent, smell, touch, taste, and sound. Both of my kids are very scent oriented and Hannah wanted to smell the berries and the flowers. Hannah ate just about as many berries as she picked. I will make several desserts and baked good with the fresh berries. These things will all start to build bonding and memories with her. She even asked if we could plant some raspberry plants at our house.

I hope some day when she looks back, she can have the same type of memories I have, and I hope it’s a tradition she will pass on to her daughter as well.

Photo credit – our bowl of freshly picked, home grown, organic raspberries.