Took a little hunt this morning--- a black bear would like these

Over 3 gallons of wild blackberries. Um um good.

I love picking them.

For folks who may have some somewhere to pick.

A few pointers,,,get yourself a tobacco stick,,a stick about the size of a walking cane,,or even use a walking cane.

When you approach a big blackberry vine,,,you will NOT see the best berries hardly ever,,,,but if you will break over the tallest briar then you will see the prize berries.

Also this stick device--- can be used to pry briars off your body if you come in contact,,,trying to free yourself with your hands/fingers,,you'll stick yourself even more.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2016 05:24PM by tnsharpshooter.

Those berries look good but I like the old Iron fry pan on the left of the pic. I live in Kentucky and all I have is iron skillets, when my grandmother passed that was all I wanted of her things. They can bake the best cornbread ever. I would like some blackberry cobbler also. nice going just watch for snakes.

I absolutely love foraging. Our blackberries aren't ready yet, another month, maybe less for some of the earliest-fruiting plants. But our earliest wild cherries are nearly ready. Maybe 6 weeks until the plums are ready, a month longer for apples, pears. Nuts later still.

One of my most productive blackberry patches is on a small patch of disused farmland. It's over-run with rabbits, their burrows are everywhere, and I think the little blighters droppings help fertilise the ground. Combine that with good exposure to sunshine, and the result is great fruit.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2016 11:36PM by Pimento.

Oh my goodness. Berries are so good and for good health. That was a great find Tnss.

Now you need some homemade ice cream.

We have been blessed with the best fruit crop in 40+ years. The huckleberries were the largest sweetest ever, the blue berries the same,I go out every morning with my first cup and eat the dew covered berries off the bush,uuummm, our pear trees are already about to break from their loads.
We have canned 164 quarts of squash,72 quarts of snapbeans,and our 104 tomato plants are loaded,already canned 28 pts and will end up with around 150 pts.
It's a lot of hard work,begin at 7am until 10am and again at 5pm until can't. God has rewarded us--hopefully you too.

Grandma used to take all of us grandkids and give us cut off milk jugs and let us go at it. Good gosh I remember those days when we'd pick 10-12 gallons of them a day. Then when the muscadines came in, we would go help my great grandmother pick those from her vineyard and spend the next little bit making muscadine jelly. I like the blackberries myself...don't pick nowhere near as many now days as we use to. I will say one thing though...snakes were the least of our worries when picking them. I don't know what the real scientific name for them is...but we were more afraid of what we called a "packsaddle" getting us. if you have ever been stung by one, you will remember it. And it seemed like they loved being in those blackberry patches. I've been lit up by dozens of yellow jackets at the same time...and they hurt; but they are nothing compared to one of those packsaddle caterpillar things.

I have had some of that muscadine jelly on hot biscuits its the best! You can't get that up here as that is a Southern thing.

Or perhaps a white oldtimer...
Wear gloves and like the stick idea....son came down with some nasty poison ivy last year...
Be careful as step on those ground nest yellow jackets or perhaps a snake and would recommend high boots...
Yep still can taste one of Moms homemade pies from the early 40's....

Dan-Pa. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Or perhaps a white oldtimer...
> Wear gloves and like the stick idea....son came
> down with some nasty poison ivy last year...
> Be careful as step on those ground nest yellow
> jackets or perhaps a snake and would recommend
> high boots...
> Yep still can taste one of Moms homemade pies from
> the early 40's....


Spent a lot of time in the woods in my lifetime,,,have a lot of respect for the poisonous reptiles.

The ole copperhead,,that's the one to watch-- no rattle.