I have a vivid recollection of serviceberry bushes heavy with ripe fruit. It was the summer of 2018 at Prairiewoods, toward the end of June and the day before my sister’s birthday on a Sunday afternoon. Jen Kardos and Fred Meyer from Backyard Abundance were gently and joyously leading a program called Foraging Urban Wild Edibles, and we were all loving and learning so much. We walked and wandered and talked. Fred told us all about serviceberries and he stretched and ate the fruit directly from the tall bush just as any bird or berry-loving animal would. We all followed his example, grinning and murmuring gratitude, remembering ourselves after all.
Have you ever eaten a serviceberry? They have their own unique serviceberry taste. There was something especially magical and natural about eating them directly off the tree. They tasted like summer. They were the same temperature as summer. They were alive and real and I felt so very healthy and well after eating just one. One berry was like a drink of water and the best fruit juice you’ve ever had. I looked at one berry in the palm of my hand and held it up to the sun. There was a whole ocean inside. The berry became the whole world. And for a moment I was sure I understood the universe. What a marvelous and mysterious creation.
At the end of our time together we were given a delicious warm dish of sweet potatoes and serviceberries which was divine, delightful, and pleasantly surprising. At one point I looked at my sister and said, “This is amazing,” and she said, “This is the best day of our lives.”
—Angie Pierce Jennings, Prairiewoods hosted groups and hospitality coordinator