Berry Picking with Friends!

I've not been living at this house long, so when spring arrived I took my handy Seek app (recommended by friends during a tidepool outing) over the yard to identify everything growing in the garden. One plant in particular caught my interest—rhubarb. I know 'about' rhubarb, but I've never done anything ‘with’ rhubarb. The timing of this discovery coincided beautifully with the opening of the nearby Graysmarsh U-Pick farm. If cookbooks and bottles of jam are to be trusted, strawberries and rhubarb are made for one another.

Berry picking is the perfect micro-adventure to share with friends for an easy hour of companionship on a weekend morning. One of the things I'm learning as I attempt to make new friends as a grown-up is the importance of properly pairing activities with people in my friend pool, like:

• considering their age and relationship status, eg

  • older people have different physical ability levels than younger people

  • retirees get together on weeknights whereas those still in the work force tend to hang out solely toward the end of the weekweekend

  • couples have different availability than singles, and single parents have almost no availability (but they have a strong desire to hang out!)

• considering their schedule & availability (day, time of day, amount of time required...)

• considering their interests

• considering their level of fitness

• considering their finances

• considering how long we've known one another (shorter outings work well at the outset until you become more comfortable spending longer durations together)

Berry picking struck me as the perfect outing for me and my neighbors. They've mentioned Graysmarsh before, and I know that they love the weekly farmer's market. They agreed to go with me (*and* to participate in the blog—hooray!), we set a mutually acceptable time, and off we went!