Extreme dry conditions resulted in a hard year for some berries and mushrooms last year, but it’s hoped this spring’s cool, wet weather will support a better harvest this fall.

The author of the Forager’s Dinner, Shawn Dawson, says there were berries available last year if you knew where to look, but overall, hot, dry temperatures severely affected the blueberry crop.

Other berries however, seemed to thrive.

“Cranberries were great,” says Dawson, who picked “some of the best blackberries I’ve ever seen.  So I think what a lot of people are talking about are just blueberries.”

He admits it was a challenging year to get them, but it wasn’t as bad as some might think if you knew where to find them.

In the meantime, last year was too dry for mushrooms, but a snowy winter and a wet spring bode well for a better harvest this fall.

That said, Dawson says Newfoundland does drain quickly because there’s so much rock under a thin layer of soil, but he’s encouraged by the wet conditions of late and expects that things will be a lot better this year.