Just picked a bowl of wild raspberries, and poured them on some vanilla ice cream

[NNadir]

9. My wife was giving me a little lecture on this topic as we were driving up to Sparta...

...to see her sister.

She's reading a book on the history of African Americans in our town - going back to the time of Slavery in NJ (we were the last coastal State to emancipate slaves North of the Mason Dixon Line (excepting Delaware). The book covers NJ history through the mid-20th century however, and our African Americans played a huge role in our agricultural industry. Apparently, up to mid-century, NJ was NY Cities Answer to the role played by the San Joaquin Valley to LA/San Francisco. That was the time New Jersey became known as the "Garden State," which used to get a laugh from me when I was a stupid kid growing up on Long Island, because I perceived NJ as a giant oil refinery.

We still have considerable farmland, and large rural areas. Rutgers, our State University, is well respected in agricultural research. We are large producers of cranberries, blueberries, peaches, the famous "Jersey Tomato" and other small market crops.

I will say, regrettably, that we are losing farm houses to suburban tracts of poorly constructed McMansions. My town, which was historically successful at resisting huge development is among those changing.

My little lot is as wild as I am allowed to get away with though. I cannot grow vegetables except on my Deck, because of our deer overpopulation problem, but I do grow lots of "Jersey Tomatoes, Basil, and other herbs and peppers.

The deer don't seem to eat the raspberries, because of the thorns, I guess.