Wild Berry Picking

[manny_santos]

I thought we should have a thread where we post good places throughout Canada to find wild blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and other berries.

To start, does anyone know of any good spots to pick wild berries in Eastern Ontario? I suspect there should be some north of Kingston in the Canadian Shield but I don't know the area well. I did spot some wild blackberries near Verona last summer but it was on private property.

[Marty_Mcfly]

Wild blueberries in Newfoundland are super common. Just pull off the highway practically anywhere, walk into the patch, and pick away. I'm more curious as to where in NL you can find wild strawberries that grow bigger than raspberries, which is all I can find

[Aylmer]

I go just north of Aylmer in the Pontiac for my berries: strawberries are just finishing, but raspberries and blackberries are on their way! It August, I go climbing on the Eardley escarpment for wild blueberries, of which there are bucketfuls of tiny tart ones!

Believe it or not, there's actually a growing wine industry in the Pontiac, mostly because of the warm and dry microclimate created by the escarpment. It might not be the Rhône, but places like Lavender Ridge are quite lovely to visit and the people are just the salt of the earth ― they'll even let you pick a grape or two, so I guess it counts as berry picking

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

Wild blueberries in Newfoundland are super common. Just pull off the highway practically anywhere, walk into the patch, and pick away. I'm more curious as to where in NL you can find wild strawberries that grow bigger than raspberries, which is all I can find

Could it be a different variety of strawberries from those cultivated on farms? I've never seen the wild ones bigger than raspberries either.

Blackberries grow along the side of the road in many areas on the Burin Peninsula. Blueberries are absolutely everywhere, even right beside the stone staircases on Signal Hill. Bakeapples (my favourite) are generally a bit of a hike off any stop on an uplands highway. Raspberries aren't all that common, but in the pockets where they exist, they're everywhere.

But, yes, anywhere here. Newfoundland is blocked with wildflowers/berries. I think literally everyone has picked them at some point. We used to always get blueberries and then eat them in a bowl of tin milk and sugar.

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[vid]

Blueberries grow everywhere around Thunder Bay. In the city itself, you find raspberries more often. I don't know where specifically to go though.

One of our biggest attractions is a pick-it-yourself strawberry farm south of the city.

[Xelebes]

Raspberries here grow like weeds.

My parents place has a nice assortment of berries to pick. Should have gone this week to pick the berries there but I didn't.

Raspberries, Honeyberries, Black Currant, Gooseberry, Saskatoon, Chokecherry. None of them are wild at this point apart from the raspberries but they will do.

[CanadianCentaur]

Oddly, I haven't come across very many raspberries in the wild in Alberta. Maybe I haven't looked hard enough. But I see plenty of raspberries in people's backyard gardens in Grande Prairie, as they do very well up there in the summer.

When I was younger, my dad owned a piece of land just NE of Grande Prairie and we would go there to pick saskatoon berries while we let the dogs run and play around. Saskatoon berries are all over the place in the Peace country as well as other parts of Alberta and NE BC. Saskatoon berry pie is one of my favorite pies.

[Trevor3]

Last week I discovered my parents backyard has been invaded by wild strawberries. And they're awesome tasting berries, very sweet!

There is a great spot for bakeapples on Route 490 across the highway from the paper mill (or where it used to stand) along the railroad tracks (or where they used to run). We had a yogurt production plant here a few years back that made local flavours, bakeapple was one of them. Then the facility burned down and the insurance money went to paying off loans, long story short the owners are still trying to recoup their losses. It's too bad, if not for that fire "Good Natured" brand yogurt may have been selling nationally by now It was insanely popular.

[Kitchissippi]

The trails in and around Victoria are dripping with blackberries in late summer. I remember cycling around there and some parts of the paths get sticky with berry juice.

[Chadillaccc]

I have some wild Raspberries growing in my back yard, a couple colonies of them. Tomorrow I'm actually going to be transplanting them into a new garden so I can fill it with raspberry bushes

[Architype]

Many areas of Newfoundland, including the northeast where I grew up, have blueberries, bakeapples (aka cloudberries), partridgeberries (aka lingonberry or cowberry), some type of blackberry (resembling blueberries), raspberries, and some others.

[MolsonExport]

Yesterday, my kids found a good patch of wild blackberries at Fanshawe Pioneer village.

[Metro-One]

Blackberries are bountiful is southwestern BC (two types, trailing and Himalayan). Huckleberries are tart but i like them (always good when hiking), raspberries are everywhere, thimbleberries make great jam, and salmon berries are nice and juicy.

[Komatiite]

Nice to see some users who know about saskatoons and chokecherries! It surprises me how many people don't know about them.

[Chadillaccc]

The thing is, you never really hear about them when growing up/living in Ontario. The first time I heard of a Saskatoonberry was when I moved to BC over 4 years ago.

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by Komatiite

Nice to see some users who know about saskatoons and chokecherries! It surprises me how many people don't know about them.

I walked the trail to the St Albert market and graze on the saskatoons. Its amazing howmany new people here dont know about them. But they will buy bags of them from the Huterites. Also good here is highbush cranberries. Also rose hips from the wild roses are good for jams.

[Chadillaccc]

I've still never had a Saskatoon

[240glt]

I have an abundance of raspberries at my rental house... I planted them eight or nine years ago when I first bought the place, they now produce a substantial amount of fruit. Thay are along the north fence in the back yard, so they get full sun. They love that.

At our new house we have strawberries. They like partial shade, not too much direct sunlight. We've just started picking the,, they are delicious

[Daveography]

^ Raspberries are amazing. We have a bunch planted along our back alley driveway, and aside from trimming the stalks to about 4 feet every spring, they require no maintenance or watering (outside of rainfall) and produce oodles of delicious berries year after year.

We welcome our neighbours and other passerby in our alleyway to pick some as well, since we usually end up with more than we can find use for.

[speedog]

Found in the wild in Calgary include saskatoons, choke cherries, raspberries, strawberries, red currants, black currents, golden currents, goose berries, prickly pear cactus - there's probably more but on an annual basis one can find these in various areas in Calgary.