The Berry Best

It is peak berry time around here.  The are producing and require picking every single day.  We are in a race against our adversaries - Mockingbirds, Blue Jays, and Cardinals.  They all like picking berries, too.  I don't know what it is about this year, but there are tons of birds!  We noticed them loudly singing all spring in the backyard.  At first we thought it was nice, now we know they were calling their friends to partake of the blueberries.  Their friends arrived and they told their family members.   

Now, I don't mind sharing, but they are taking more than their fair share.  Not nice.  Next year I will buy nets to put over the bushes.  One year I hung rubber snakes from the branches.  I'll look for some of those too.  For now, we will continue picking.  We still come away with some nice blueberries.  They are at all different stages of ripeness.  We still have gallons of blueberries frozen from last year, so my wife has encouraged me (and I've obliged) to eat plenty while I am picking each afternoon.

Some are hard and green, but each day they ripen.  Others are blue, plump, and sweet as candy.

Some years they are smaller, harder, and more tart.  My theory is that all the rain we have had has resulted in more H2O uptake, making the berries plumper and juicier.

On normal years, we pick between a pint and a quart of berries each day.  This year, not near that much, although the birds may be getting that much, doggonit!

When we are done with the blueberries, we mosey over to the thornless blackberry bushes.  We have two of them and they produce well.

These are not ripe yet.  They turn black when they are ripe.  Hence, the name blackberries...

They ripen quickly, turning from red to burgundy to black in merely a day or two.

The size is bigger than that of the dewberries that grow in the wild.  Russ got some cuttings off of these canes and will try to propagate some of these on his own to get more coming.

These are good to snack on.  Sweet.  Juicy.  They are also delicious to put on top of homemade ice cream!

Time to head to bed.  I'm berry tired.