blackberry picking

Gigervamp

For those who need jars, ask on your local freecycle group. My local group often has people offering jars.

klare_2

yep thats what i have done..put a freecycle request out for jars and i have had heaps of responses...as well as collecting 6 ex honey jars of the mum in law when i went to get her tried and tested recipe for blackberry and apple jelly....everythings in the pan mulching down, then I have to leave it to drain overnight and tomorow when i get home from work i will be makig my first lot..yikes!!! cant wait but majorly worried incase it goes wrong! fingers crossed everyone!

1sttimer_2

I don't usually soak my blackberries to get rid of the maggots, but put them into ice cream boxes with the lids on tight (or other airtight containers) overnight and the little varmits come to the top for air and are all on the inside of the lid ready to knock off! But I do wash them and pick them over after that but rarely get any more.

I used to pick my blackberries when walking my dog (sadly died 2 years ago) on the saturday early morning walk - it was the best time ever - no folk staring at the crazy lady with loads of purple 'poo' bags! My family may have laughed at me (after worrying where the heck I was after about 2 hours!) but they all liked the jam/crumbles I made with them!

2cats1kid

LOL at the purple poo bags!

Not come across the airtight container method. May have to give that one a try, if I have anything big enough with a tight enough fitting lid.

1sttimer_2

I just use old margarine or ice cream tubs - I never throw any away as they can be used innumerable ways. BTW put them in the tubs dry - not wet as they tend to go mouldy - even overnight. I have been known to leave them for over a day before using them (due to me getting an unexpected windfall) and they have been fine, even when not in the fridge (I rarely have enough room in there for them anyway) but out of the sunlight.

twiglet98

klare wrote: »

Hi all...

I have just been brambling for the first time.. im cut to smithereens....bleeding..and in pain.. but have a big grin.... have collected 3lbs of blackberrys ( a 1lb from the brambles in my garden!!! that i only just noticed after living here for nearly 5 years!)... and they are currently in soak after having read the thread about the maggots....
tomorow im off to steal jars from the mum in law, nick cooking apples off her tree and make my first ever blackberry jelly ( recipe curtesy of mum in law too)... and next ound of blakberys are going off to make the gin that i have now read about.
crazy I have lived in a house with nearly half an acre of land, and done nothing with it except plant 2 apple trees which have not got funny brown bits appearing on the apples.
DH has just (finally ) agreed to chickens coming to live here so im going to have a go at building my own coop... and after that i am planning on taking over the world... maybe wont achieve it all this week though.
Now off to read about what seeds I can still plant for salads or veggies this week as have got 3 bags of fertiliser / compost stuff that have been sat there for over a year doing nothing!
Gosh, what a waste of time and resources but better late than never.
Lovely to meet you all by the way :-)

SNAP, SNAP and SNAP! We too have half an acre and have done nothing with it in 17 years here - it's been football pitch, paddock, nettle patch for the peacock butterflies... mainly grass with a giant willow threatening to take the house down, an ancient apple tree bearing its best crop in years, and two trees we planted 15 years ago and forgot what they were... one had wonderful sweet golden plums last year, the other is smothered in green apples for the first time this year!! Started growing veg this year but in containers and a raised bed, this ground isn't diggable. Lost our last hens some years ago but are starting with more in September, hurrah!

Blackberries... I've picked ONE so far. Earliest pick ever was on 30 July (brother's birthday) in the '80s, in Hampshire. We need serious sunshine before they're ready here. We have 40 acres behind us, lined with bramble bushes. Only one other person picks them, from the next village, and he brings two buckets at a time! My daughter picks them from horseback so reaches the higher ones!

The border collie we had when I was a child picked his own off the lower bushes when my mother and I went gathering, the only dog I've had that loved fruit.

Blackberry vodka is jolly nice - will look up the recipe and post tomorrow - will try the yogurt ice cream too, but crumble is the lifelong favourite... bliss!

Happy brambling!

klare_2

twiglet98 wrote: »

SNAP, SNAP and SNAP! We too have half an acre and have done nothing with it in 17 years here - it's been football pitch, paddock, nettle patch for the peacock butterflies... mainly grass with a giant willow threatening to take the house down, an ancient apple tree bearing its best crop in years, and two trees we planted 15 years ago and forgot what they were... one had wonderful sweet golden plums last year, the other is smothered in green apples for the first time this year!! Started growing veg this year but in containers and a raised bed, this ground isn't diggable. Lost our last hens some years ago but are starting with more in September, hurrah!

Blackberries... I've picked ONE so far. Earliest pick ever was on 30 July (brother's birthday) in the '80s, in Hampshire. We need serious sunshine before they're ready here. We have 40 acres behind us, lined with bramble bushes. Only one other person picks them, from the next village, and he brings two buckets at a time! My daughter picks them from horseback so reaches the higher ones!

The border collie we had when I was a child picked his own off the lower bushes when my mother and I went gathering, the only dog I've had that loved fruit.

Blackberry vodka is jolly nice - will look up the recipe and post tomorrow - will try the yogurt ice cream too, but crumble is the lifelong favourite... bliss!

Happy brambling!

wow.. so its not just us then!!!!! .... i feel even more inspired now lol ... and less inclined to slinky away into a corner embarressed and ashamed lol Bizarre thing is.. we too used to have a fruit loving dog.. her fruit of choice was gooseberrys and she too used to go and ( very gingerly thru the thorns i might add) pick her own off the bottom of the bush.:D

mollymunchkin

My dog eats the blackberries straight off the bush too It was really funny to watch her do it the first time.

Barneysmom

Right then, it's Barneysmom's blackberry jam part II :rotfl:
Been out this evening and picked another tub of blackberries.

Chuffed today though, found some raspberry bushes too, hiding like robbers behind some big weeds :cool:
They are sitting in a bowl of vinegar water till tomorrow, I have to go buy some lemons and more sugar I'll get some on my way home from work tomorrow.

Wish me luck

2cats1kid

Hope it goes better this time.

Bizarrely there were no maggots at all in yesterday's box of berries, so maybe it depends on the weather or something. My previous boxes were gathered in the heatwave, while yesterday's was gathered in wetter weather.

About a third of the box is now blackberry ice cream in the freezer, and the remainder will be transformed into blackberry and apple leather shortly.