Blackberry summer
Well, my tomato blog was so popular that I've decided to continue the fruit theme and post a blog about the riveting topic of blackberries. In this fascinating glimpse into the glittering world of the little globular bits of fruit, we shall discuss the pros and cons of blackberry consumption - not to be confused with the "consumption" referred to in the 1800's, of course. This one is healthy.
Blackberries usually get ripe in the month of July, a normally sweltering time of year in Southeast Missouri, when no person in his/her sane mind would want to cover up in the long pants and long sleeves necessary when tracking the wild blackberry.
That was always my problem and the reason why I had to retire from the sport many years ago. In my great foolishness, I tried to pick blackberries in shorts and sleeveless tops. (Well, actually, the blackberries were not in shorts. I doubt that they even owned a pair...) Because of my idiocy, I had to go to the doctor for shots after every excursion into the blackberry brambles. My husband, who could pull poison ivy up by the roots with no reaction (from either himself or the poison ivy) finally suggested that the blackberries had become too expensive, when factoring in the doctor bills.
Poison ivy is not the only vicious beast lurking in the blackberry patch. There are, in no particular order of significance:
1) Chiggers (very small red bugs, who, for some unknown reason, like to get under your skin, much like a certain blogger we all know and love...) Once firmly burrowed under your hide, these red bugs itch and itch and ITCH, until you paint them with fingernail polish and wait for them to suffocate.
2) Stink bugs (green or brown), who lurk on the berries until some unsuspecting human pops one in his/her mouth, and then voila! What a surprise!
3) Ticks, which crawl up from ground level, searching for a home sweet home, from which to set up housekeeping and grow, and grow, and GROW.
4) Copperheads - those ill-tempered and not at all shy beauties with the lovely orange-and-brown-patterned skin and the big pointy teeth.
5) Rattlesnakes - a noisy but somewhat less ill-tempered slithery creepy-crawly member of snakedom. A stomping, beating, noisy entrance on your part MAY scare these creatures off - unlike the copperhead, who will simply lie in wait for you and bite your leg off...
Doesn't blackberry picking sound like fun??
Ah, but it's all worth it, as this berry is simply packed with antioxidants and the most fiber of any fruit. You can make blackberry cobbler (my own personal favorite use of the berry), wine (my son's own personal favorite use of the berry), jam (seeds still in it), jelly (strained through muslin to remove the seeds and pulp)...And I guess that's about all we ever did with them. I'm sure there are some other uses that I haven't thought of.
So, there you have it, folks. Put on your wide-brimmed Indiana Jones hat, your long-sleeved shirt, long pants and tall boots, spray yourself with a coating of Deep Woods Off, and take the plunge into the blackberry patch!
Happy hunting!
This is your rural blackberry blogger, Madeline, signing off from the green, poison ivy-covered hills of downtown Tillman, Missouri.
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I've never sucked the poison out of a snake bite, but if I had to, I'm sure I could do it. Did you still have to take her to the hospital? A neighbor out here got bitten by a rattlesnake, when he reached into his firewood shack. It put him in the hospital in serious condition for several days.
FJGuy! Another classic piece of imaginative wizardry! You crack me up! And, I'm envious - I wish I could do that magic with graphic imagery!