Blackberries

I'm still picking blackberries and making pies, jam and juice. Actually, blackberries alone don't make the best juice but it mixes well with other fruit. I just made some with chokecherries and I'm planning blackberry crabapple juice tonight.... I netted most of my elderberries so the stupidest birds may not get them. Hopefully the other fruit won't get eaten.

Blackberries

I'm now picking my last berries- well maybe not quite as I still should have elderberries, magnolia vine berries and aronia. However, I have quite alot of blackberries to pick that are waiting to be plucked even as I write this. It has been raining much of the day which is not what one wants with dead ripe berries: they tend to mush and rot. Dana and I made several batches of jam combining blackberries with gooseberries and black currants, also we made some sauce or jam combining red currants, gooseberries and black currants which is excellent on ice cream and meet. I've gotten behind in my weeding.

Juicing and Jamming

I am now picking berries and making them into juice or jam full tilt. I've have hired two different people to help me pick black currants and gooseberries and I invited friends of mine to come on three occasions to pick black currants for their yogurt operation. I still have some more black currants to pick and the blackberries are now coming in. It looks like we are going to have a very poor apple year.