The Giant Thistle of Neuruppin, Germany

Looking down into the vacant lot from the roof of the relative we were visiting in Neuruppin, we were all amazed to spot a breathtakingly enormous thistle plant towering in one corner. After doing some research, we decided it could be a Scotch thistle.

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Lichtenberg: Walnuts, Pumpkins, Corn and a Recipe

Back from a harvest-time weekend in Brandenburg, here’s the full report! As you may have noticed from the last, photo-only post, I was in the small village of Lichtenberg near Neuruppin, about an hour north of Berlin, visiting relatives whose front lawn is currently being showered with walnuts from their neighbor’s black walnut tree, which hangs over their property. The common understanding of fallen-fruit rights in Germany is that any fruit that falls on your lawn is yours to keep (I’m not a foraging lawyer, so don’t take my word for this). Anyway, we filled this bucket almost to the top and our kind relatives said we were welcome to take them back to Berlin with us, as there will surely be more falling onto the lawn soon.

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Lichtenberg: Fallen fruit, or rather, walnuts

From the neighbor’s tree.

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Neuruppin: More sourpuss pansies

[Update] Apparently, angry pansies are running wild in smaller cities, too. On a weekend trip to visit relatives in a small city north of Berlin, we spotted these angry little guys growing on the sidewalk.

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