Bilberries and lingonberries

The right to pick is one of the better ideas anyone has had. You may walk in the forest and gather berries and mushrooms more or less anywhere that is not somebody's yard, and in August a great many people do, with buckets, in a businesslike manner.

Bilberries first. They are smaller and darker than the blueberries sold in shops, they stain everything, and they are better. A berry rake speeds things up and fills the bucket with leaves, which you then spend the evening removing. Picking by hand is slower and, I have come to think, the point.

Lingonberries come a few weeks later, red and sharp and very firm, and keep for months with almost no help. They go with everything savoury. Half the bucket is destined for the freezer and the other half for a jar on the table.

The forest floor at this time of year is soft and springy and smells of resin and of rain that has not quite arrived. Autumn is three weeks away and everybody knows it.