berry exciting

a little over a month ago, our backyard blackberry bushes were covered with delicate pinky white flowers. they were very pretty, but you couldn't really eat them. well, i suppose you could, but i doubt they'd taste like much.

then these little guys did their important work and lo and behold, we have blackberries:

i just found them today! i haven't even made anything with them yet, because they are incredibly good just eaten on their own.

i have time, though - many more blackberries are coming. they seem to be trying to make things easier for me by not all ripening at once.

i don't have a clue how many berries there are out there - thousands upon thousands, for sure. the bushes cover our back fence and then some and are making inroads along the side fence as well. one vine was tap-tap-tapping on the window earlier, wanting me to let it in. i declined. those things are pointy.

after we harvest the berries, i will have to cut the vines back, lest we wake up and find ourselves locked away like sleeping beauty in a forest of briars and brambles. if i cut them now, though, how we will enjoy all of the cobblers, pies, crumbles, crisps, buckles, slumps, jams, etc., that i have planned for these darlings? now to convince someone with a ladder to come and help harvest them...

no one minds being paid in berries, right?

so yeah, no recipe today, but here are some links to other people who have made good use of blackberries:

martha stewart

simply recipes

orangette

smitten kitchen

homesick texan