What will one day soon be ripe

I’ve been following the annual flowering of fruit trees, the gentle awakening and first appearance of what will one day be ripe for picking freely on the sides of paths and hills and city streets while Traveling at the Speed of Bike (there’s a whole section on this in my book).

Here’s the progression of the easiest to find* (if you know what to look for), starting usually in late April here in USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 7b and 8a (metro Atlanta used to all be 7b but was redesignated in 2011 due to climate change): mulberries (bring a sheet and shake the tree!), serviceberries (my fave, also known as Juneberries but they are ripe in May in Atlanta), blackberries (wear gardening gloves and long sleeves because THORNS), blueberries, plums, pears, apples, figs (August 1; mark your calendar), muscadines (including scuppernongs!) (Rainy with a Chance of Muscadines kicks off a chapter in my book, Food for My Daughters), pomegranates, and native persimmons (see my article on that, or what’s left of it since the gorgeous magazine folded, here.