Red Raspberries. The raspberry, considered by many the glory of the summer garden, is a cane fruit, that has been known since the early days of time. Its domestic cultivation goes back to the middle ages. The red raspberry is well-suited to the Pacific Northwest, where we are located, where some of the better varieties are Willamette, Meeker, Sumner, and Fairview. The harvest of the red raspberry goes from early to late July. Eaten in hand, warm from the sun in the berry patch, it is a delight. But carefully made into a quality jam, the taste of summer is still there, and can bring memories of summer sunshine to the muffin of a dreary February morning.

Strawberries. The strawberry has been hybridized from the wild for domestic cultivation. A good source of Vitamin C, it is a low growing, perennial plant, spread by runners. Different varieties are grown in various parts of the United States. The warm days and cool nights of the Pacific Northwest ripen the strawberry to perfection. Northwest strawberries, such as Rainier, Shuksan, and Puget Beauty are sweet, red all the way through berries, with an intense, luscious flavor. They are superior to the "shipper" berries with white cellulose insides that appear in so many supermarkets. The Northwest strawberry has a very short fresh shelf life, so often the only way to enjoy it is in the form of a quality preserve, made from top quality fruit in small batches.

Currants and Gooseberries. Both of these fruits are in the ribes family. Both grow on bushes about the size of a medium rose bush, with fruit hanging down in clusters like miniature bunches of grapes. The branch of the gooseberry, however, has formidable thorns, which serve as a deterrent to picking.

The currant can be black, red or white. The black has a distinctive gamy aroma, both the vegetation of the plant, and the fruit itself. In the form of jelly or jam, the black currant makes an excellent glaze or accompaniment to wild game or game birds. Red currant gelato is excellent, as is a red currant, red raspberry combination.

The red currant has a clean, palate cleansing taste about it. The ripe red berry is beautiful and translucent in the sunshine. The berries make a beautiful jelly, which can be used as a glaze to brush over fruit tarts, to make Cumberland sauce, to use on Cornish hens, or as the perfect topping for an English muffin. The traditional variety on Vashon-Maury islands has been "Perfection".

The white currant is seldom seen in the U.S., but is used most frequently by chefs to accompany a meat or poultry dish.

The gooseberry, ranging from green to pink, depending upon variety, is used for pies and jam, and desserts such as Gooseberry Fool. It has a very tart, clean taste, and is rather an "old fashioned" berry, often remembered from childhood or by a grandparent. It's a fruit that people either like or detest! The Shepherd's now adult children still complain about having to pick them while growing up on the farm.

Blackberries. The blackberry is in abundance in the Pacific Northwest. The tiny, woodland trailing blackberry is a favorite, but almost completely unavailable commercially. Sweet and delicate in flavor, you must take to the woods for it. It is prolific on recently logged or burned over land, where it can get some sun. You may have to share it with the bears, for whom it is also a palate pleaser.

Cultivated varieties of blackberry, developed by plant scientists for taste, and yield characteristics, include the Evergreen and the Cascade and the Chester. The non-native Himalayan Blackberry covers roadsides and vacant lots in the Northwest. The berry has a good flavor, but also a very large and woody seed.

Blackberries are good in pies, ice cream, syrups, jams and jellies. But the varieties with chewy seeds are better when sieved.

Marionberry. The Marionberry, we assure Easterners, has no relationship to the former mayor of the nation's capital. Rather it is named for Marion County, Oregon, where it was developed by cooperative extension service researchers over 50 years ago as a domesticated blackberry variety with superior taste characteristics. It is much favored for pie, yogurt, ice cream and jam. Marionberry Jam is one of the most popular flavors offered by Maury Island Farm. Like the blackberry, of which it is a family member, the Marion is a bramble fruit, which is trellised in the farm setting.

Boysenberry. The Boysenberry is also a blackberry relative; but it is large, and has a reddish tone in both the fruit and juice, with a tart-sweet flavor. It was developed in California in the last century. The jam or syrup has more tartness than that of the Marionberry or regular blackberry.

Blueberry. The blueberry is grown in many parts of the country, and has both highbush and lowbush varieties, and is of the vaccinium family, as is the cranberry. Blueberries require a moist, organic soil. There are a great number of varieties, which include Bluecrop, Blueray, Patriot, and Olympia. The first Americans were eating wild blueberries long before any one else arrived. They are great on cereal, in fruit salads, for pancake toppings, and, of course, as jam.

The present owner of this website has u-pick blueberries every summer.

Red Tart Cherries. These are a tree fruit, unlike the berries described here. One of the most popular varieties is Montmorency, which produces the classic "pie cherry," red, tart, juicy and beautiful. These are the source for the Maury Island Farm tart cherry preserves, a.k.a., "cherry pie in a bottle."

Interested in learning more about berries? Check out some of our favorites.