Rose hip

There is a bush growing at the entrance to Brenda and Chip's driveway. It is full of blossoms in season and loaded with bright red fruit in fall. Long, long ago, rose hip jam was one of my favorites. Asking Chip, he said "we never do anything with it. Not even the birds want it, is it edible?" And it was easy to get permission to harvest.

Not ever having had to do anything with rose hips until the time came to spoon the jam out the jar, I did a quick research on the web and learned that the fruit is best if left on the bush till after the first frost. This information makes it easy to understand that I concentrated more on the Vermonter than on the berries. But as there is today, near mid-October, still no sign of cold nights, I did more research and found that the thing can be pushed by putting the harvested fruit in the freezer over night. And today was the day I went picking. The picture would tell more than words about what I found: Not a single berry was useable any more. Paraphrasing an old German folk song: go pick the rose hip when it is ripe. Don't sit and linger until it is cold.