Blackberry Picking
What an adventure for the kids to discover the beauty of blackberries growing on the verges so close to the house today.
It all happened thanks to Hannah & Caleb. This morning when we went to move the lambs Hannah came up with purple hands asking how it had happened?! I asked her what she had been playing with & so she led us to the blackberries. I had NO idea we had blackberries around so this afternoon we took a walk with buckets. We walked down the road a ways after discovering that there were none in the field. Then we walked up the road. There are blackberry bushes everywhere & they are loaded with fruit. Most of the berries are still pink but we picked about a gallon of ripe ones & of course the kids ate a lot as they picked.
I have not picked blackberries since I was a kid! I know, shame on me. Of course last year we were on the road so much didn’t have time & in Montana I don’t think there were many where we were. These blackberries were/are a real blessing. Money has been a little tight recently (not complaining) so that has meant that fresh fruit has not been as plentiful as normal. It was really good for Daniel & Hannah to realize that with just a little hard work this afternoon they could have some delicious fruit that cost absolutely nothing. Obviously they know where milk, eggs, meat etc come from but now they have come to appreciate blackberries. The plan is to go back out on Thursday & pick more. A couple days should see alot more of the berries ripened. I hope to get a lot frozen for smoothies, breakfast etc. We actually planted some thornless blackberry starts this year which the neighbor gave us but they haven’t produced yet.
According to Wikipedia:
“Blackberries are notable for their high nutritional contents of dietary fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, folic acid (a B vitamin), and the essential mineral manganese.
Blackberries rank highly among fruits for antioxidant strength, particularly due to their dense contents of polyphenolic compounds, such as ellagic acid, tannins, ellagitannins, quercetin, gallic acid, anthocyanins and cyanidins.
Blackberries have an ORAC value (oxygen radical absorbance capacity) of 5347 per 100 grams, including them among the top-ranked ORAC fruits. Another report using a different assay for assessing antioxidant strength placed blackberry at the top of more than 1000 antioxidant foods consumed in the United States.“
Count your blessings today 🙂 You may not have picked blackberries but I am sure a blessing came your way somewhere.
Liz
Megan
May 24, 2012 @ 5:22 am
I love picking wild blackberries! Yum!