What an amazing place you have! I love this article. Very informative. Here in Ireland we have the Negra...and there is also a shorter variety. Some people say these are toxic, but then I heard a woman from Romania say that in her country they say the short version is eatable and our Negra is toxic! LOL. So we pick them both...never any problems. I am fortunate enough to have an abundance of elder growing around the field here. In our old house, we picked the flowers and not long after we moved here, we were able to pick the berries. We had more than 8 kg. of berries! I make them into jam and syrup and we use it all year round. The kids love it (and I do too) and we always have enough to give to friends. It is truly one of the best things to have around the house!