Foraging for Food in the Black Forest

While stumbling along the hiking trails through the forest, I was surprised by how clear the ground was around the tree trunks. There were none of the weeds and sticker bushes and scrub brush that I remember from walking in the woods. Mostly, it is just a blanket of pine needles on the ground. Nothing much grows because the canopy of the pine forest blocks most of the sun from reaching the ground.

This is a Hansel and Gretel kind of forest. You can imagine getting lost in the confusion of the pine trunks and stumbling across an old cabin occupied by a witch.

Along the hiking paths, where they've cleared the trees, wild raspberry bushes find enough sunlight to grow in thick patches. The intro picture shows some of the berries. I've never seen the red variety growing wild - always the darker varieties and blackberries. Anyway, these were doing just fine and made a great snack for picking-n-eating while hiking.

The hiking trail finally dumped out into a small village, as all trails eventually do. Conveniently, there was a restaurant-hotel-gift shop there to cater to the wanderers that stumble into town. It had a terrace that looked out over the farms in the valley - a great place to sit and have a piece of apple strudel and coffee.
And of course, the terrace was also a great place to try some of the local beer. Yes, it was good to get back into nature and brush up on the ole survival skills. I think I could survive in the Black Forest.