Kidding Around Vancouver Island

With the sunny hot summer we’ve had on Vancouver Island this year, fruits were ripening extra early, and that meant starting blackberry picking mode not long after BC Day – it’s been going strong ever since.  When we head down to the park, we don’t bring any snacks with us; just grab a handful of black berries and you’re set.

Of course I use “grab a handful” very metaphorically.  We’ve been perfecting our technique the last few years to minimize tears from prickles and the stains from handling.  You have to grip those berries enough to pull them off, but not too hard that they instantly become jam in the hand (known as ‘mushers’ in Ella lingo).  As for prickle protection, our trick is to use a glove on one hand to grip the branch and then angle it in such a way that your bare hand can easily get at the berries.  Result?  Less tears, more berries!

Another tip is to use your shortest child as the spotter.  Quite often, the nicest berries are the ones hanging underneath leaves – they’re hard to spot unless you get right underneath.  Ella has become quite good at her scouting job, though she gets a bit tyrannical when she spots a batch:  “There it is, get it!” or “I see some, pick them now!”

Being the taller of the two, Grace is more focused on the highest berries possible.  When she saw at tip on Shaw TV about using a step ladder to compete with the birds, she was all for it; when she had to carry the ladder, the enthusiasm waned.  I suggested to her that Daddy would make a very good step ladder.  Grace thought that was great, George not so much, until I told him it was kind of like a free massage.

Now it’s a frenzied race to do something with all these berries.  Jam is the old stand-by (good for Christmas prsents!) and then there are the pies, and the crumbles, and the syrups.  But this year, a little something for mummy and daddy, which is fermenting as I write.  Gotta love those blackberries!