Thursday, July 08, 2010

berries for my birthday

When we bought the thirty-some acres that made our little homestead so much larger (we originally had only six acres), wild blackberries grew everywhere.  I canned and froze gallons, literally.  I made jam and jelly that I never got around to using.  
But it didn't take Cliff long to start clearing the land:  He hired a guy with a bulldozer to clean up the whole east side of our property, which is where most of the berries grew.  I'm glad he did this, by the way.  It looks a lot better with grass growing there, and it's one of the cows' favorite grazing areas.  Besides, how many blackberries can two people eat?  Even when my children were home, they didn't care for blackberries... they didn't like the seeds.  
Yesterday, on my sixty-sixth birthday, I thought to myself what a wonderful gift it would be if I could find enough blackberries for a pie.  Just one pie, for old times' sake.  
The first time I headed to the point, which is where my remaining berries grow, thunder rumbled, my dog panicked, and I returned to the house to wait for the rain to end.  We certainly do get the rain around here.  
Later in the evening with the sun shining brightly, my dog and I returned to the berry patch.  I have the tips of little thorns festering in a couple of fingers this morning, but I came back with three cups of blackberries.  


I think that's enough for a pie.  If I look up my old Better-Homes-and-Gardens recipe and find it isn't, there should be more berries ripe by tomorrow.  I regret that Bonnie-the-cow is now dry, so there won't be any thick, rich Jersey cream for our pie.  Ice cream works well, though.  

6 comments:

  1. Enjoy that pie. The berries look wonderful!

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  2. Lindie8:11 AM

    Beautiful big berries! We had wild berries on our acreage too but we also had chiggers and ticks! We didn't pick many berries. We started out with 7 acreas and added to it too. We bought the walnut woods in back and the pasture further up and ended up with 21 acres.

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  3. I love blackberry pie. That should be enough for you and Cliff. Helen

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  4. Anonymous10:14 AM

    WILD NATIVE BLACKBERRIES, OH WHAT MEMORIES. ONE OF GOD'S GIFTS.

    MISSOURI, OKLAHOMA AND ARKANSAS HAVE THE BEST OF WILD BLACKBERRIES.
    I CAN STILL REMEMBER THE SOUND OF A HANDFUL OF BLACKBERRIES HITTING THE BOTTOM OF AN EMPTY BUCKET ATTACHED TO THE OVERHALL SUSPENDERS OF THE BERRY PICKER. IT MIGHT BE FIFTY YARDS AWAY AND THAT EARLY MORNING SOUND CARRIED WELL WHEN THE BERRIES HIT THE BOTTOM OF THE BUCKET.

    WE PICKED MANY GALLONS.
    MOTHER AND THE OLDER GIRLS MADE JAMS AND JELLIES, FILLING GLASSES, JARS AND CROCKS FOR FAMILY'S USE DURING WINTER AND SUCH A HELP DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION.
    SUGAR WAS FOUR OR FIVE CENTS A POUND.
    WE BOUGHT FLOUR BY THE FIFTY POUND BAG, CANT REMEMBER THE PRICE THOUGH WAS VERY CHEAP. NOT MUCH MONEY IN OUR HOUSEHOLD.
    OH FOR ONE OF MOTHER'S BLACKBERRY COBBLERS NOW.
    SAM JULY 2010 CANON CITY.

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  5. Anonymous10:26 AM

    Happy Birthday Donna! Pies look great! Karen

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  6. Hope you had a very nice birthday yesterday and many more to come.

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