There are few things I look forward to more than the late-summer ritual of a meandering car ride with my husband and kids along the dusty Tuscan roads to hunt for drooping branches of wild blackberries and flowering wild oregano.

There is no jam quite like the one made with wild blackberries, especially in the cold and flavorless fruit months of winter. And no homemade pizza tastes quite right without the intense flavor of wild-oregano flowers.

So, yes, it’s about the food and the flavor, but more than anything it’s about sharing these rare moments of “the simple life”, of roadside foraging amidst thorn pricks, stained fingers, dust-filled nostrils and laughs with my family. That’s what it’s all about.