I think you're okay unless it's a nature preserve.

But possibly ok if it's a nature preserves.

Sometimes there are signs - my park has one "The harvesting of plants or animals from this park is illegal." If there is not a sign, I suppose it's cool.

If it's a municipal park, I suppose it could generally be considered theft... since they're not your bushes. There might be weird local statutes pertaining to parkland bushes though.

Personally, I wouldn't pick any berries from a city park. No idea what they've been sprayed with pesticide-wise or urine-wise. Not that knowing whose piss they were soaked in would make it any better, mind you.

What CKmtl said - don't eat it if you aren't sure how it was cultivated.

But apart from that, eating plants in public places depends on 1) the park and 2) your ethics.

State and federal parks typically make it clear that you are requested not to take things or pick plants. Even if they say nothing about it, since they are preserves, it is good to assume that they don't want the plant material taken away.

National and state forests and some other non-forest public lands, on the other hand, were in part actually set aside for the use of the citizenry. In those places, you're generally more than welcome (within applicable laws/seasons) to gather firewood, cut a Christmas tree, hunt, tap maples, pick berries, go mushroom hunting, and so on.

Municipal parks and private foundation parks are all different. They might vary in their mission and in how they view their natural resources.

In Scouts, they used to say "take nothing, leave nothing." Not a bad practice, when in doubt.

Apart from the maxim that you should "take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints", I would be concerned about various people pissing all over the berries before you pick and eat them. No amount of washing could remove that from my psyche.

I'd be more concerned about pesticides than piss. Not that the latter doesn't happen, I just think it's much less likely to pose health hazards, especially after it's dried. From what I understand, it's pretty close to sterile when it leaves the body. And it only happens in very localized areas, so you're much less likely to encounter pissed-on berries than you are insecticided berries.

Whatever the case, I think you'd probably be fine if you washed them. I suspect that it's not a common practice because of the unknown/ickiness factor.

I can say without fear of overstatement that I have eaten thousands of berries growing on bushes in parks, and the first time that people pissing on the bushes even entered my mind was when I read this thread.

YOU ATE PEE BERRIES!!!

Urine is sterile, fortunately.

That doesn't mean it isn't nasty, though.

Yeah, I know it's sterile. As Miko says, it's still nasty and I don't plan on consuming any more than I already (unwittingly) do. As long as I don't know about it, I don't really care.

I must say that I'm a bit jealous of people who get to stroll in parks where berries grow so abundantly that they are available to eat. Maybe it's just a different climate, but our parks grow nothing edible whatsoever. Perhaps because they are, in general, "dry" parks where no watering is done.

Fresh urine is sterile. Given that most berry bushes have thorns*, though, I'm guessing that urine isn't gonna be that big a deal.

Picking berries in a park, however, is bad manners. It's kinda like picking flowers in the park.

*At least the ones here do. Big nasty fuckers that I don't want anywhere near my, uh, urinary tract.

the first time that people pissing on the bushes even entered my mind was when I read this thread.

Don't forget the dogs. Thousands upon thousands of peemail messages.

Urine is sterile, fortunately.

Nope. It may be less harmful than other excreta, but it's not sterile. It can pick up bacteria on the way out, and a warm shaded puddle of pee is probably a nice environment for bacteria while it lasts. I mean, if everyone's urine were completely sterile, there'd be no point to UTI and STD urine tests.

A good wash would probably get rid of any human or canine pee... but still, ew.

It can pick up bacteria on the way out

Hm, well that's true. Yes.

Apparently, the DC metro area is the perfect environment for mulberries, and almost no one (else) eats them, so the MrsMoonPie and I often pick and eat them, usually from public areas. They grow on trees, so pee isn't an issue, though, I suppose, pesticides could be. We never gather enough to take any home, so I guess purple-stained fingers would be the only evidence.