Blackberry season - yum yum!

I went blackberry picking yesterday morning at the crack of dawn. The weather was PERFECT - a "cold" spell meant it in the mid-60s until 8 a.m. or so. I found a decent patch, and picked the better part of a couple gallons, not counting those I ate for breakfast-while-picking, lolol.

Half of them are being processed into blackberry vinegar, the rest were bagged and frozen for pies and cobblers. I might try another patch tomorrow morning, if my back stops hurting and the scratches heal over.

Anybody else picking berries this year?

oh yes, I have them growing through and up over a hedge in my back yard! they are really good this year

Thanks to my neighbors negelected yard I have easy access to them from my side of the fence. Wound up with just enough to make 2 cobblers and boy they sure were tasty!
Do you wear long sleves when you go picking? Helps keep "some" of them from ripping a hole in ya arm LOL

Molly, I wear my trusty overalls to protect my legs when I go picking, but I can't seem to wear long sleeves without continually snagging them. (Even my short sleeves on my t-shirt get snagged more than my arms seem to.)

The deepest scratches are on my fingers, anyway. Oh well - they're worth fighting for, I guess!

I've been a few times, and have the bug bites to prove it....
I have always picked in the evening, since I was a child, are the bugs out in the mornings as bad?

I don't mind the scratches, but I do mind the poison ivy and the bug bites.... I told hubby I wasn't ever going again! Sad since we have so many of the darn things...

Melissa

Terry, they used to pick them for a living around here. This area of East Texas had many fields of blackberries as an agricultural crop in the 40's and 50's and beyond. My uncle had several acres of them planted in rows. What a job that was! Just think of picking blackberries all day in this heat. Not a pretty sight!
Bill

Bill, my MIL shudders everytime I mention picking blackberries. Same generation you're referring to, she had to pick them from morning til night along with her siblings. My neighbor said the co-op was asking $16/gallon for them this year, and a local u-pick was getting $10/gallon (I guess that means my labor isn't worth much!!!)

Melissa, the bugs aren't bad in the morning. In fact, I don't think I have a single bugbite to show for the time I spent yesterday. (And we DO indeed have skeeters here in the evenings, so it's not like we live in paradise, lolol.) I did encounter some mighty big beeetles, who seemed to favor the biggest and ripest berries. My boots and pants keep the poison ivy threat away (knock on wood), although we do have to be on the lookout for snakes. (I try not to think about them too much, and make a LOT of noise as I move through the patch.)

When we moved into our house there was a thornless blackberry area along the back of our fence. This is the best way to pick them-no thorns. While we were gone for 2 weeks a friend came other and picked what was ripe and made jam. She gave me a jar the other day, it is wonderful and I didn't have to do any work.

Yes, I pick more than I want, LOL

$16/gallon for blackberries!!!!!! Wow! Here to buy them is $5/pint at a local Farmers' Market. Way too pricy to do anything except savor them fresh.

Love these threads. My little blueberry 'bush' is new. The variety is 'Olympia'. I picked about 5 berries a week ago! :-D Can't wait until they size up and really produce!

By the by, Lupy, the gooseberries and currants, for being starts produced about 2 cups each. I was surprised! I have them 'primed' and ready for a growth spurt next season!

ive got fruit coming out my ears right now! RED raspberries.BLACK raspberries, everbearing strawberries,sour cherries,apricots,transparent apples and yellow plums!!

we are picking fruit always!

THE plums are weeping to the ground and the apricots are a close second this yr!

What do you do with soo many like that Dori?? If I had all them I couldn't give the things away! Be my luck anyways!LOL
kinda like when I had a garden last year, we had okra and squash coming out of our ears and no one seem to need any. Once our little freezer(above the fridge) got full...we started feeding it to the pig!

JAM! PIES!! FREEZER!! SELL!!! GIVE!!! EAT!!! :)