Blackberry Pie Anyone?
I am very lucky where I live. I live in the second house on my grandparents farm, but my dad is not a farmer. I get to see Nanna and Poppa every day, and get to swim in their pool and play tennis on their tennis court! But the best part of living where I do is the river out the very back of the farm. It has a strong current and a little "island' which is private and isolated in a quiet paddock. In this paddock there is a blackberry bush growing wildly over the far side of the river and what better way to spend your weekend than picking blackberry's.
There's nothing better than eating blackberry's straight off the bush, just the way nature intended. My Nanna, little sister and I were dropped off to our spot on the quad bike and while my brother and Poppa carried onto theirs, then we set to work. It only took us an hour of picking before.... BLACKBERRY PIE!! Wait a second, it didn't happen quite that fast. We managed to pick a lot. Then we waited for the boys to come pack from the deeper part of the river, while we were waiting we got a little wet! Once everyone was back together we then went back to Nanna's house to make blackberry pie and Alison Holst would have been jealous! It was delicious, I can't wait to go BlackBerrying again!
Question for my fellow bloggers: Have you ever tried BlackBerrys? Were they wild or from the supermarket? If so did you like them?
Dear Emily
ReplyDeleteI am a teacher in a class called B4, in the South Island.
Your post reminded me of when I was young and I would go blackberrying on my uncle's farm. He had lots of blackberry bushes in his fields and the berries that were easy to reach were fair game. I would sell the blackberries for about 8c a pound. (You can tell that was sometime ago, now we measure in kilograms, and no-one would pick for 8c a pound these days!)
I also have a story about my mother-in-law picking blackberries - she would rest a plank of wood onto the blackberry bush and climb up the plank to reach the high berries. She needed to have good balance - imagine falling off the plank into the berry prickles!
Nowdays, it's hard to find a good berry spot because so many roadside bushes are covered in weed-spray.
My favourite berry though is the raspberry. I have some growing in my garden. Mmm, raspberry jam.
regards
Mrs McKenzie
Emily
ReplyDeleteSuch a wonderful detailed post, and great to see Mrs McKenzie enjoyed it so much. I have to admit that I have only ever had Blackberries from a supermarket and when they are in season. It sounds like such a special place for you to go and collect and and there's some wonderful words about your family in this post. Be sure to share it with them and let you know what you've written about him.
Mr Webb.
Hi Emily,
ReplyDeleteYou are making me hungry! Blackberry pie sounds delicious.
I use to pick blackberries from wild bushes when I was your age. Possibly from the same spot. It was always fun (minus the scratches) especially eating them. Occasionally we would go to Uncle Jim's as they had a heap more bushes growing wild.
These days the only blackberries I get are from the supermarket and given they are always expensive that's not very often.
Angie
Hi Auntie Ange! it's so great to hear from you i know that you used to go blackberrying in that exact spot! we managed to get quite alot thank you for commenting feel free to check out my newer posts anytime, Emily
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ReplyDeleteEmily
ReplyDeleteYou are doing such amazing work on your blog! I'm really impressed. You're obviously enjoying creating an interesting blog. I've never picked wild berries but I used to bike to a berry farm in Hawera when I was at school and loved it.
Mrs Cocker
Thank you for commenting Mrs.Cocker! I am very much enjoying blogging and love hearing from others, im sure biking to a berry farm would be very enjoyable things like this i will remember when i am your age! Emily
DeleteHi Emily,
ReplyDeleteReading your post reminded me so much of good times I had as a kid. We lived on a few acres and blackberries grew wild up the banks. Many a good time was had over summer clambering up the hillsides trying to reach the fat, juicy berries that were always just out of reach. My arms were a constant mess of scratches through the summer months... but so worth it!
Lisa
Hello Lisa! Thank you for commenting. I can relate to scrathes up my arms and legs but like you said it is all worth it in the end a good swim in the river always helps too! Feel free to comment whenever you like.
DeleteEmily, Room1, Auroa School, Taranaki, New Zealand
Dear Emily- are you really 7 years old? I am very impressed by your writing, spelling and grammar skills! Your grandparents farm sounds wonderful!
ReplyDeleteNo sorry I am not 7 I am 12! So for the confusion but thank you for the great comment! Emily
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