🍓 Picking berries | Outdoorsy Newsletter

Summertime is synonymous with enjoying my favorite fruits and vegetables at their peak taste. At the top of my list: rainier cherries.

Nothing beats picking your own delights and taking a fresh bite from the field, so let’s enjoy the fruits of the season together at a handful of farms and orchards in our region. We’ll also take a trip through York County hiking trails that could soon be lost, and later talk about a longtime water sport tradition embraced by Philly paddlers.

☀️ Your weekend weather outlook: This summer’s sweltering pace continues with another heat wave on the way — but first, remnants of Hurricane Beryl will briefly cool things down. Don’t forget to keep our heat wave guide in handy.

— Paola Pérez (outdoorsy@inquirer.com)

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There’s no shortage of orchards and farms nearby offering us the opportunity to pick our own delights.

🫐 Just ripe: Strawberries are typically ready starting May/June, raspberries and blueberries are good to go in June/July, and blackberries ripen in July/August.

🍑 Beyond berries: Some spots offer other summer crops like summer corn, peaches, and string beans.

🍓 Before you pick: Call ahead or check your destination’s website to confirm operating hours and what they have available.

🧺 Picking safely: Dress comfortably, apply sunscreen, and drink plenty of water.

🍒 Hot tip: pickyourown.org is a great resource to find specific produce in your area.

See our full list of places to pick your own berries, in order from closest to furthest from Philly.

🎤 Now we’re passing the microphone to Jason Nark. You’ll always find his work here.

They hiked along a rocky, narrow trail, high above the Susquehanna River, trying to imagine a vanished landscape.

On this Tuesday in April, wide patches of Virginia bluebells were abuzz with bumblebees on an old logging road that leads to the trail. A tiger beetle, green as any jewel, scuttled through the dead leaves. On the rocky outcrop above Cuffs Run, ancient oaks grew thick between boulders.

“Most of this could be gone, or underwater,” Fritz Schroeder, president of the nonprofit Lancaster Conservancy, said as he walked through the flowers.

Cuffs Run, a small tributary of the Susquehanna, cuts a steep ravine into the bluffs above the river in York County and, for decades, energy producers and engineers have eyed its unique topography for a hydroelectric pumped storage facility. The $2.5 billion project would encompass about 1,000 acres and require the acquisition of private homes and farmland, conserved land, and possibly even long-established hiking trails. More than half of the acreage would be flooded for a reservoir. — Jason Nark

Go deeper in Jason’s story to learn more about the use of water power, and the continued efforts to protect this cherished land.

Last season, Outdoorsy reader Brenda Hébert wrote to me about the water sport of dragon boating.

The sport traces its history back over 2,000 years to southern China. It found its way to America in Philadelphia back in 1983.

The Philadelphia Dragon Boat Association (PDBA) is the oldest and most decorated dragon boat team in the United States. They have hosted the Independence Dragon Boat Regatta on the first Saturday of June on the Schuylkill River for the last 17 years. The PDBA’s program is inclusive to anyone of any age, gender and background.

Discover the rich history of dragon boat racing through this 2022 Inquirer feature on the sport that brings people from all walks of life together.

🎤 Jason says: This is from atop the overlook trail at World’s End State Park in Sullivan County.

I can feel the breeze.

📮 Email me with a review of your outdoors experience for a chance to be featured in a future Outdoorsy newsletter.

My Co — Star (astrology) app had this message for me today: “Take a walk in the woods and cry.” Hard to ignore a sign from the universe like that.

Until our next adventure.

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