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Post by Toby Benoit on Jun 5, 2010 6:14:12 GMT 12.75
The blackerries are ripe and I ain't talking about no smart-phones either. You talk blackberries to most kids these days and you get all sorts of tech-talk thrown back atcha! You speak it around these teens we got and they run for buckets! We picked almost two gallons between the four of us. Honestly, I didn't pick near as many as they did because I had to keep sitting down and resting, but I still got my share of briar scratches. Granny's got a cobbler in the oven right now and my sister Michelle's coming over tonight and she and Chicken and Granny will be putting up some jelly. The boys and I are heading back out this evening when it begins to cool down some. A real bumper crop on the berries! ;D We finally got enough rain to keep them sweet and the bushes producing.
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Post by Paws on Jun 5, 2010 8:34:45 GMT 12.75
Up here those get about eight bucks a pint! Run a truck load up and I'll split 'em with ya!
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Post by brittonfaith on Jun 5, 2010 12:48:20 GMT 12.75
I got a conveyor belt set up. Just load 'em in the freezer here.
Had a hen out in the blackberry thicket today. She came back to the yard limping with a 10" copperhead in her mouth. All the hens partook in the feast. An hour later the limper was a goner. Looks like the limp was from a snake bite. I think I'm going to sacrifice this years blackberry crop to a controlled burn. Maybe I can burn the snakes out of the patch. Two years of fighting those things for my berries is quite enough.
Guess my chicken buyer will have to settle with 21 hens.
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Post by Toby Benoit on Jun 5, 2010 18:51:56 GMT 12.75
Trade the rest of the hens for a small flock of muscovey ducks. They'll clean the snakes out for you!
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Post by brittonfaith on Jun 16, 2010 8:26:47 GMT 12.75
Too late. The hens area outa here. It's been so hot, that I let the birds have the blackberries. I'll be out for the blackberry leaves instead. They'll make some mighty fine tea this winter.
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Post by Toby Benoit on Jun 17, 2010 6:05:15 GMT 12.75
All in all we got three good pickings and the berries were really sweet this year. What's left on the vines is starting to dry up and ain't fit to bother picking. Faith, when do you pick the leaves for tea; I never did that, but ya got me wanting to try it. Pick them when the berries are on, off. Dry the leaves or steep them as they are?
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Post by brittonfaith on Jun 17, 2010 6:29:13 GMT 12.75
I've never really researched it to see if there is a best time to pick the leaves. I just go out when ever. They can be used fresh if chopped. Otherwise, I dry them for winter use. I find it best to wait to crush them until you're ready to make tea. If you've ever done mint leaves for tea, you treat the blackberry leaves much in the same way.
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Post by Simpleton on May 16, 2013 6:31:47 GMT 12.75
Was sitting on the porch chatting with the neighbor the other day. That first summer was very lean times. Didn't know anyone in these parts and didn't even know where the stores or pantries were yet. But each and every time I hopped in the van, it took me down some dirt road in the middle of BFE and I came home loaded for bear. We picked about 15 gallons of blackberries, 10 gallons each of raspberries and elderberries, four bushels of pipen apples, huge walnuts, mulberries, persimmons, and enough wild grapes to make 40 gallons of wine. No matter where I looked, there was more than a plentiful bounty waiting for the picking. Once we got enough to get us through the year, the copperheads moved in. Hadn't seen any the whole time we were way back in those thickets. I wouldn't have minded chasing off a black snake, but there just weren't any. Since then, there hasn't been enough of anything to pick to even mess with. And the ticks will eat you alive! The neighbor said she remembers that year and the weird thing is... none of those spots I was picking had produced much of anything in the 20 years previous. Musta been feasting on Manna!!
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Post by Toby Benoit on May 16, 2013 19:47:06 GMT 12.75
I took a ride out to put minerals down for the deer in the oak bottoms just yesterday, Faith. While at it, I swung up the old railroad bed and the blackberry thickets all have small green berries; still a few weeks away from pickin' season here. I saw a small ripe one here and there, but they were rare.
I got nobody to pick with this year, but I reckon I'll get out and take advantage of what I'm able to. Maybe I can get my Trish to whip me up a blackberry cobbler instead of my peach cobbler she loves to bake for me.
You might keep yer eye out and invest in a few bags of 7-7-7 when it goes on sale and sweeten up some of them walnut and pecan trees and even the fruit trees locally for next year, Faith. If it brings 'em around to producing, it'll be worth the investment.
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