Gooseberries are a Delicious Pain….

Not many folks know about gooseberries.  If you do, you give away your age.  Gooseberries in the wild are found in Midwest woodlands, along hedgerows or fence lines.  They are of European origin and have flourished here.

We have several bushes in our backyard on the edge of the woods that encroaches on our manicured lawn.  The gooseberries are abundant when the rain and humidity is optimum.  Which is about every spring in Iowa.  But one might ask, what is good about a gooseberry?

Gooseberry pie, jam or sauce poured over a biscuit is one of my favorite things.  It has the right amount of tartness.  Not too sweet but just sweet enough.  My wife has the recipes perfected.  She learned from her mom who grew up with the gooseberries in Missouri. The balance of the tart and sweetness of the gooseberry is exquisite.

But the work of getting the berry from bush to table is a lesson in hard work.  Here is what one must go through to enjoy the pie….

1. Gooseberries ripen in late June or early July. Prime time for high heat and humidity in Iowa.
2. The mosquito population is well on its way to taking over the world as I know it…..
3. Gooseberry bushes have large thorns.

These three immutable facts encourage the picker to cover up:  long sleeve shirt, gloves, and a hat are a must.  Therefore, body heat is off the charts and sweat is a soaker.  Between the thorns, mosquitoes, and the heat it is enough to make a preacher cuss.

But here are some of the things that I think about while picking because I have to write a blog post…

You must be patient to be a gooseberry picker.  You must approach the bush from different angles or you will miss some berries.  Step back, bend over, go around, come back a different way and you will see more berries.  Take a break.  Go to another bush then come back.  Go to another bush then come back.  You see more.

A little like the challenges we face in life.  We want quick solutions, but too often they are hard to come by.  Good problem solvers are patient with the hard work of gathering options.  They are willing to examine the problems from different angles, willing to table one issue for a time and then come back.  I have found that to be refreshing to my mind.  Usually the solution is ready to be found and well worth the wait.

And the mosquitoes, heat, and thorns of life?  What keeps them at bay for me is the mindful focus on the goal.  I see the end result.  The pain and discomfort are worth it. The momentary pain dissipates as the mind stays on the prize.  The journey may be hard but the destination is bliss.  It is hard to put into words the feeling one gets from a job well done, problem solved, goal reached.

Anybody want some good gooseberry pie?