By July 4 around these parts, the blackberries are ripe, so last week Kevin and I went picking at our horse farm. They grow thick along the fences, creek, woods, and road. It took us a couple of hours to get a few cups. It is such a quaint, old-fashioned thing to do, walking along, stopping at every bush and plunking a few into a container; talking and gossipin' along the way. I always like to take Kevin with me blackberry picking, as his long arms reach the far away ones I can't dream of reaching without falling into the creek in the process!
Then, our very kind landlord brought over three gallons
of "tame" berries for me to have fun with! So last week I was making pies, jams, freezing them, puree-ing them, and I even made blackberry lemonade - yummy.For Independence day this year, we celebrated by going to see Phil Vassar at the Martinsville Speedway............pics and more on him later!!
On July 4, I was in the kitchen all day with my string beans, while Kevin cut the oat field for hay. My brother way here to help, and we got it all in before the rains hit on Sunday.
We went to our horse farm for fireworks later that night; the folks who we lease our horse facilities from were giving a party. The horses wer pretty upset that their peaceful evening was inturrupted by noisy fireworks!
:-O I have to wait until late August/early September for blackberries here!!! *sigh* You lucky girl!! I really want to try making jam when they ripen up....I've never canned a thing in my life before, but the thought of opening a sparkling jar of preserved summer goodness in the dead of winter is enough to motivate me to try! Any secrets of success you might be willing to share?
ReplyDeleteJust buy a package of liquid Certo Pectin, and follow the directions within! Also, I don't "process" the jars. I simply fill, put the lids on tight, turn them upsideown a few minutes, and then turn them rightside up again. They always seal right up. Good luck!
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