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We did not have black elderberries on our property (to our knowledge) for almost 20 years, until we cut down a couple of trees to create sunlight for a small perennial garden near our beehive. Two years later, we have elderberries, pupping up into the sunlight the downed tree created. We did not plant them or even encourage them. They were just waiting there patiently waiting for the right conditions. Or rather, waiting for the wrong conditions to be removed. It makes me hopeful that there is a great force for growth and goodness waiting right now in the shade of our current attitude about nature and about each other, and when conditions change, we will enjoy a beautiful, abundant, natural and moral harvest.

American black elderberry fruits (Sambucus canadensis)