Picking Raspberries

This raspberry plant is special to us.

Not because it’s rare or expensive — but because my son bought it himself. Five dollars from a small backyard garden sale, chosen with care, planted with hope.

Season after season, it keeps giving.

It’s fed us, yes — but it’s also grounded us. It’s pulled the kids into the sunshine, away from screens, and into real-life learning. It’s become a quiet teacher.

More Than Just Fruit

Picking raspberries slows everything down.

Hands become gentle. Eyes scan for deep red berries ready to release with the lightest touch. Conversations soften. There’s laughter, sticky fingers, and a sense of shared purpose.

And then there’s the noticing.

Learning Who Lives in the Garden

Through this plant, we learned about fluffy bums (mealybugs) and stink bugs — not from a book, but by observation.

These little “fluffy bums” can be easy to miss at first. I’ve shared a short reel showing how to identify them early and what they’re telling us about plant stress.

Stink bugs are another visitor we’ve learned to work with, rather than against. I’ve shared a quick reel showing simple, natural ways to deter them and reduce their impact without reaching for sprays.

Both are sap suckers, which means they feed by piercing the plant and drawing out its sap. This weakens the plant over time, reduces fruiting, and creates entry points for fungal disease.

A stressed plant sends signals — and pests are very good at noticing.

Prevention Is Better Than Cure 🌿

One of the biggest lessons this raspberry bush taught us is that healthy plants are naturally more resilient.

When plants are well cared for:

• They produce stronger growth

• Their natural defences are higher

• They’re less attractive to sap-sucking insects

So rather than reaching for sprays, we focused on supporting the plant first.