Filed under: July 2012
Blackberries almost ready
July 14, 2012
These blackberries are ripening slow. They need some rain too. There are (were) a few black ones waiting to be picked, but the real flush should come the next week. I did eat quite a few, as I field tested them for moisture, flavor and sweetness. They passed with flying colors 😮
This crop is one of my most favorite. I don’t plant them. I don’t tend them. I actually almost forget about them. Then every year about this time, a virtual bounty awaits. Sometimes frost or dry weather takes the crop, but they are persistent and return the next year in abundance.
I like to pick the tasty treats. I learned from my gramma and grampa Rice. They would pick until they could find no more. Then in the winter, when snow is deep and folks are forced indoors, my gramma would make blackberry pie. My mouth waters as I write. Those pies were sweet, warm and delicious. Oh I loved them so ………..
My mother would also make blackberry pies for me. She could strecth them some how, so that no matter how many I brought her, there was enough for a pie. My mom’s were sweet, very sweet. They were nothing short of awesome!
Gramma would also make blackberry or raspberry ice cream. She would not just pour it over top of some store-bought stuff, it was churned right in to the homemade ice cream. We all turned the crank on the ice cream freezer. It seemed like it would never get done, then all of a sudden it was ready. I will never forget those times…….. ever.
I make ice cream here too, that old-fashioned way. I don’t do it often enough, but we do make it. Gramma and grandpa made it lots of times. In fact, I can only remember eating store-bought a very few times at their house. Believe me, there is a difference indeed!
If we get some needed rain in the next few days, the berry crop will be a big one. I am looking forward to gathering plenty for us. I will never grow out of liking blackberry pie … ever 😮
Those blackberries grow on canes that are covered with thorns. I get scratched up some when picking, but it is worth it. I guess it’s a little like a rose, the beautiful flower perched upon a stalk of thorns. The reward in both cases is … berry good 😮
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RicelandMeadows 
You are so right Ralph. As a young buck when we were done haying and working for other farmers my mother (who was one of the few country wives here to work outside the home),would take grampas old neckties (we used them to tie the cans around our waists), and some old juice cans and off we would go to the bush. In the bush where we had cut wood the years before would be a big patch of raspberries. We would pick and pick and my brother and I would whine and whine.
In the end though the berry cans and the pails would be full. Off we would walk the mile or so back to the farm.
Gramma and my spinster aunts would be there waiting our return to clean and pick through the berries and ready them for jams,and perserves.
We were so lucky to enjoy and grow up around country chefs. The pies and cakes and perserves were second to none. I think that is why I always have a bit of a time pushing away from the table,,,and my weight…lol. It did teach me that in work-is your “just deserts”.
Have a great day and thanks as always for your memories and making mine come back.
Comment by Greg Wright July 17, 2012 @ 6:22 amMany of my memories involved the harvest. Berries, apples, garden produce and of course the farm crops were all done by family. I am glad to have those treasues burried in my heart :o)
Comment by Ralph July 17, 2012 @ 2:08 pm