Berry picking on my friends farm...

Nice big fat berries everywhere on my friends farm. I picked last week and got about 8lbs. Since they are growing everywhere there and tons of them, I went back yesterday and will probably go once a week till they are gone.

 My friends dog loves eating blackberries so he follows us around. She told me not to put my basket down cuz he would help himself when I wasn't looking lol.

 Hes begging her now for some berries.....I gave him a few on and off thru the day. After all he protects us there on the farm. When we went mushrooming last yr. he came with us in the woods because he knew there was a coyote around. My friend says he never goes with her usually so she knew something was wrong.

 This is behind her barn. There's a huge length of blackberry bushes. We both picked alot but she gave me hers. She said she had some from last yr. Since I do canning I told her, Ill make some jam for her. Shes more of a hunter/fisher-woman while I'm more of the growing it myself and canning type. Its a good match.

 Some of her horses.........seems they like the blackberries too cuz I had to watch where I stepped when we picked behind the barn lol.

 Its so beautiful here, I just love coming to her farm. I remembered to bring my camera this time. Every time she and I do stuff, there's always something that we see that I say....darn I wish I brought my camera! She said why don't you just plan on having it whenever we do stuff lol .

 That's her house down there, we were up at the barn, in the pasture. Some days I can see elk out in the fields here. She often goes hunting herself. Got a deer last yr and the head is on her wall. She amazes me. She may make a mountain woman out of me yet.

 This was my haul this week. When I got home to wash them and get them ready to freeze, I measure them and put them in marked plastic bags so I know how much I have. This week I got 10lbs! I promised my friend some jam, but I also promised my bfs folks, and my kids and grand kids since they love it too. (BTW I bring long tongs with me when I go picking. They help me move the canes or pull down tall canes without getting all ripped up by the thorns.)

Blackberry Season?

The weather is weird today. The sun is in and out, the clouds get dark and it looks like rain but doesn't. My bf went on a job interview (crossing fingers here) so while hes out of the house I decided to check on the berry situation here.

The egg lady had tons and I'm glad I got to pick with her. I still intend to ask her if there's any left but have been so busy with canning right now. But what you see in the basket up there is what I picked today by my house...about 2c. And it looks real bad out there. Most are dried up. They were like that in the summer with the heat we got here but I saw many unripe ones I hoped would make it. Gonna be a tough yr. near me for berries ........but the spiders are happy. EWWWWWWW they are everywhere and I'm glad I bring tongs with me when I pick.

I decided to bring them with me after last yr cuz I'm short and always the great stuff is up high. I figured long tongs would enable me to pull the branches down to get them. This yr I don't need too..........but it has helped me move webs and stuff , its creepy. My bf pressure washed the house in the back yesterday too cuz they are all over the place. Ive never seen it like this. Every time he wants to go smoke on the back porch hes doing Karate moves trying to fight off webs. Yesterday when picking tomatoes I had to do the same and there were some big ones out there. In fact my bf said he sat down last nite to smoke and noticed something by his foot.......and this one even made him jump. Might have been a wolf one. He took the porch broom to shove it off the porch.

I'm wondering if its going to be a hard winter since there's so many around....but then I didn't see that last yr and this winter was long and hard.

All I know is I WANT MORE BERRIES. :)

Finally, Im getting some

Well I finally had a chance to check out my garden. Its been raining since I got home. And then I decided to check out my yard. I read in a magazine about hazelnuts growing all over up here. They harvest in Sept. But I have a tree at the end of the yard that had these green ball like things growing on it. At first I thought they might be cherries. But once I saw that article I thought maybe I have a hazelnut tree. Wouldn't that be awesome?

So I looked for the tree, no green balls, no nothing anywhere. If I had them, they fell off the tree and are gone. I'm sure the squirrels got to them. But next yr. I'm going to look closer and if its that kind of tree, I'm going to have to find a way to save them once they fall off the tree.

Meanwhile I saw one blackberry. Now in my yard the critters seem to get to them first. But up near the street, there's a ton of brambles so i went out there to look. I picked a handful but there were more so I went in the house to find a basket. Sadly there's more where I cant reach lol and I'm thinking perhaps Ill cut some canes back this yr after they are done to give me better access next yr.

Meanwhile I searched all over that area including the neighbors side (shhhhh). And then I went across the street and picked as much as I could find slowly working my way up the hill. That picture you see up there is what I could get today, maybe a pt. or two. But Ill be looking again every few days. I'm going to freeze these and keep picking till I get more. Then I think Ill make some jam. I would love some blackberry jam made from berries, I picked right here with my own purple stained lil hands.