"Berry Patch" by Anitta Hiekkanen

Lil' forest fay having a snack.

I actually got the idea for this pic from my childhood.

When me and my younger sisters were little, our mom used to take us berry picking. (At that time we weren't usefull with mushrooms.) We had this really good place where we always went. There were a lot of blueberries and lingonberries, a very nice patch of chanterelles and a couple of really twisty begging-to-be-climbed pines. And of course we kids noticed those pines giving mom a hard time keeping us focused. In the end her solution was brilliant in it's simplicity: she gave each one of us a little cup. First we had to pick those cups full and then we could go climbing. (If you tried to cheat by filling the cup with twigs or leaves, no one got to play. She knew us so well :) Well, me and my younger sister always got our cups full as fast as possible and headed for the trees. Our youngest sister on the other hand... She had maybe two or three berries in her cup. And her hands, face and clothes were all blue. Like she had been swiming in paint. Apparently she preferred eating the berries instead of picking them.

A couple of years ago I was working a construction in that old neighborhood. While I was taking a brake I suddently recogniced the place. The back porch I was on was exactly on the spot where the chanterelles used to grow. And the house next door. That was where the blueberries had grown. At that point I thought the circle of life really sucks. Well, I have a new blueberry place, and if I'm lucky that place won't be built over anytime soon.