Blackberry Picking
Have you ever heard of blackberry winter? I’ve also heard it referred to as strawberry spring. Either way, it refers to a late cold-snap that supposedly kick-starts the growth of various plants. Remember that freezing night back in late-April?
I don’t know if blackberry winter is a real thing, or if it’s just an old wives’ tale, but I do know that the wild blackberries have produced A LOT of berries this year!
Blackberries grow wild all over our farm. Anywhere you can’t mow or bush hog easily, you can find wild blackberries. So, along steep slopes and ditches, in the tree line, and (most commonly) along the fences, we have lots of blackberry plants. The cows don’t eat them because wild blackberries have tons of briars on the canes. Blackberries also love to grow alongside their favorite companion plant— poison ivy! For the brave harvester, long pants and long sleeves are a good choice, though I can’t convince my kids to do such a thing in 90-degree heat! And it seems that blackberries are only ripe on the hottest days, and only for a couple of weeks in June and July.
Yesterday was one of those hot days. We had two friends over for the whole day while their parents were busy moving their belongings to their new house nearby. What to do with four kids who need an activity with a bit of adventure? Something like a treasure hunt? And with maybe a tiny bit of danger? Yep. We went blackberry picking.
Doesn’t it just look hot?
We started with the places I already knew had some ripe berries and then foraged along the tree line. After that initial direction from me, the berry picking quickly turned into a boys v. girls competition to see who could find and pick the most berries. Our adventure took us out of sight of our house and into the woods, eventually ending up at the fence line on the other side of the farm! This was where we found the most berries. And the kids didn’t want to stop! They kept at it for WAY longer than I expected, especially given the heat and humidity we had yesterday. They (mostly) didn’t mind the dangerous briars on the blackberry canes, and were willing to get a bit scratched up for the sake of plucking a dark purple berry hanging deep among the thorny canes. They were so excited at how many blackberries they were able to pick. Later in the day, the girls wanted to go picking again… so they did!
It was time for lunch when we reached the farthest point in our expedition. Everyone was hot and sweaty, with purple-juice fingers and minor scratches as non-edible trophies. We took the cooler, woodland route home. Walking along the small stream that meanders through the bottom-land woods, we met the cows, who were spending the hottest part of the day in the shade near the water. They didn’t mind us—they just watched quietly as we picked our way along the damp ground.
This brings to mind another saying: “Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.” Maybe we should have taken our cue from the cows to pick blackberries at a more sensible time (and temperature) of the day. Or maybe we were just a bit mad ourselves because the blackberries are only here for a few days and, oh man, are they yummy!
