What screams a summer evening more than meandering through rows of vineyard vines, plucking ripe juicy berries from the bud and dropping them down into a plastic bucket? I think berry picking is one of the quintessential summer activities, especially in the south and I’m so excited to share my adventure with you!

I came on the berry picking scene a little late this year, so as my friends and I headed to Morris Vineyard and Winery in Charleston, Tennessee, we knew our picking options would be a little limited. The drive to the vineyard is quiet and winding, but not short of breathtaking scenery.

{look at all those cute little cows!!!}

 The view, which overlooks the Appalachian Mountains, is breathtaking in only the way raw country scenes can be.

{gorgeous, right?}

When you get to the vineyard, you check in at a little lodge to get your bucket. Or, if you are there for wine tasting, you can go inside and check out the rustic accommodations and test their variety of wines – they even carry supplies to make your own wine! Pretty cool, huh?

During this time of year, Muscadines are the only fruit we thought we would be able to pick, but the gentleman working that day told us they had had a late bloom of raspberries (yippee!), so we decided to pick a little of both.

If you’ve never had a muscadine they are… unusual. They are a part of the grape family but a little more, as my friend said, “wild” tasting. Oh, and they are HUGE.

We were really eager to pick raspberries, so we headed down the trail to the raspberry vines.