County has a berry cornucopia

As children, we'd pile into our family car and head north from Minneapolis on Highway 65 for Cromwell to visit my grandfather. After 30 miles or so, leaving the suburbs behind, my father began to scout the roadsides. Braking firmly, to my mother and brothers' groans, he'd pull over, call for his roomy hat, and head for the roadside chokecherry tree. I chose to scramble after him.

That was my introduction to berry picking. As my mother later quipped, "you've been bit by the berry bug and you'll never recover!" Why would I want to?

For three weeks, I've been patronizing our area berry growers. T...