Beautiful Morning

[gaudet]

Around 6:30 am I awoke to start the day. After a couple cups of coffee, SWMBO asks if I want to go to the park and see if there are any blackberries to be picked. We walked out of the truck and looked at the sky which was cloudy and gray. Things didn't look good for the picking trip. As we head to the park it starts drizzling rain on the windshield. The park is closed to traffic on weekdays, but you can access it by foot. When we got out of the truck there was a light misting rain, almost non existent. It quickly subsided and we hit all our usual spots and got about 1 gallon of fresh ripe blackberries. Then we looked at a few spots that looked promising. Jackpot!!! We got almost another gallon and a half of them luscious berries. As we were walking back to the truck the sky started crying out a light rain. We made it back without getting soaked.

As a side note, we also got about 3 pints more of the mulberries. I will probably juice the mulberries that we have collected to start a 3 gallon batch today.

 

[Tom]

Sounds like you had a "good day"

Guess you mean your steam juicer..

Out of 2 1/2 gal of berries how much juice will you get?

 

[uavwmn]

Sounds like a sunshine day to me!!!! WOOT!!

 

[gaudet]

Sounds like you had a "good day"

Guess you mean your steam juicer..

Out of 2 1/2 gal of berries how much juice will you get?</font>

I'll post the juicing results. I plan to juice the mulberries this afternoon. I've give poundage and either quarts or hopefully gallons.....

I plan to juice strawberries on Saturday and maybe do Blackberries on Sunday....

 

[hannabarn]

Wow!! Blackberries in April??? We don't get them until August in Wisconsin.

 

[gaudet]

Beautiful Morning Part Two

Awoke today and we went off to the park. Sun was shining and birds were singing and all that lovely stuff. Mother in law aside it was looking to be a good morning. We went straight to the spot that we hit three days ago. Started picking some nice blackberries right away. This time I brought a pair of clippers to cut through the bramble and briars. I cut back the first few briars and oh my god it was a sight to behold...... Too bad I don't bring the camera cause there was black and red berries all over. In two and a half hours the wife and I alone picked 5 gallons of blackberries. The MIL got 1.25 gallons. A most fruitful trip (pun intended)

I think we will now have after putting away todays haul 9 one gallon bags of blackberries

 

[vcasey]

So have you thought about putting together a rum pot with all that fresh fruit? They are pretty easy, you just need a jar that you can close (something so light can't get in is best). Then take a pound of fruit (no melons or apples) and let it soak in a 1/2 pound of sugar for an hour or so, then place in the pot cover with rum, about 2 fingers over the fruit. Stop adding when the pot is full let sit for a couple of months. Serve over ice cream or pound/sponge type cakes with a glass of your port.
Glad you are having such great luck finding the fruit. We have some baby blueberry bushes and the crop this year has been pretty good, so hopefully after they are established I'll be making some "Estate Grown Blueberry Wine."
VPC

 

[gaudet]

Not yet Vcasey.... but that does sound good.

We now have 10 gallon bags of blackberries in the freezer. The MIL told me today that there are tons of wild elderberries in the local park. If all those trees that I saw were elderberries, then its going to be a bumper crop. I can get a ton of them too. The bounty of nature is awesome isn't it???