The Free Radical

Fingers are going to fing…

As that surly old river comes to climax, we find our peace of mind in the low-lying grass.

(Peace of Mind by Boston from their 1976 self-titled debut album)

I think I’ve had enough of the puffballs now… and yet they just keep coming! Throughout the forest it’s like an army of legged oysters have been vomiting pearls.

But the real treasures are to be found in the open meadows. The gooseberries are just coming into ripeness now… but I’ve found that I much prefer the green ones to their purpled sweetness. When they’re still green, they’re tart and firm– crunchy even– like tiny green apples… a very refreshing sour.

And then as you stoop a bit lower… and look closely, it’s strawberry fields forever!

I knew that the wild strawberries had flowered profusely, but I wasn’t sure whether the pollinators had done their thing. Well, they have. Good job, pollinators!

They’re pretty small, but oh-so-tasty! The only real drawback to wild strawberry season is that you might spend the entire afternoon crawling around the fields getting strawberry stained… especially your fingers.

(Warning: bad joke up ahead.) Incidentally, strawberries and certain uncouth fags are the only fruits to wear their seed on the outside. Sorry about that; bad visual, I know.

All in all, though, these first days of summer hold great promise for our peace of mind… and as for the bad jokes… well, you can just put ’em in your deer leg pipe and smoke ’em!