Blackberries abound!

Ouch. Why is it I remember picking blackberries as a kid, but I don’t remember how painful it is. Eeesh. Yesterday, Mark honked at me as I was driving out the entrance of our land to point out a blackberry bush that was dripping with ripe fruit. Therefore, I stopped the car to pick some with him. Not like I haven’t talked about these berries incessantly – anxiously awaiting their ripening. But I wasn’t dressed for the thorn battle that ensued. (I was wearing nylon workout wear.) My hands were stained purple in about two minutes. I felt ambushed by the bush, so I gave up after about a cupful of berries. But today, I’m ready.  I will don jeans and a long sleeve shirt and maybe I’ll even be wimpy enough to wear gloves. I’m on a blackberry quest, don’t ya know.

And to properly inspire myself, I’ve spent an hour on epicurious.com (The very best and most terrific cooking recipe website in the universe – and thanks to it, I can’t imagine I’ll ever buy a cookbook again – try it!)   I’ve downloaded all kinds of fun blackberry recipes. My biggest dilemma now is what to make tonight when I return from battle with my rewards – hopefully two or three buckets of blackberries. I have a great blackberry peach cobbler recipe (good because it is also peach season in Georgia and I want to take advantage of that too). I also have blackberry bread pudding and some pies and such. But we are on a diet (big cooking drag) so I’ll probably stick to blackberry buttermilk panna cottas with blackberry compote. Nice, tidy proportions so no one can complain. Tomorrow I pick up my daughter from camp, so I suspect we’ll be having a big family breakfast Saturday. I’m planning whole-wheat pancakes with blackberry syrup (another recipe from epicurious).

I have even stumbled upon some outdoor cooking recipes with blackberries for my ever-growing wilderness cooking collection. I’ve been on this outdoor cooking kick – not doing it – just wanting to learn more about it so I can. Mark makes fun of me and says, “When you live on the land and can go up to the house to your great kitchen and the barbeque and all, why do you think you’ll ever want to cook outdoors in a pit or on an open fire? Well, because I can, dopey. Gee, isn’t that obvious.  I told him I want to have a big barbeque party where everything is made right there, outside. Potatoes in the coal pit, chili on a huge kettle over a fire, etc… He grins, thinking, that’ll be the day. Ha. I’ll show him.  

Anyway, I’m of to pick blackberries. First I’m going on the mountain here by the cabin, and later when I go feed the horses, I’ll continue on the land. I might even take a run and harvest some of the thousands on the cattle ranch fence (if no one is looking) I think I’ll be looking like a Smurf this month, with blue stained fingers. But I am striding boldly into new territory – the world of blackberries. I always love a good savory adventure.