Blackberry Summer

Nothing says summer like fresh summer fruit off the vine.  I picked this bowl of blackberries off our vines this morning.

They are so warm and summery delicious, like sunshine on the taste buds.

We planted our thornless blackberry vines 5 years ago.  The first summer we eagerly awaited the blooms to fill the vines....

didn't happen.

The second year we waited for the blooms.  There were a few but no fruit appeared behind them.

The third year, with little hope and convinced our vines were from a non-producing off shoot, we checked them and to our delight there were blooms with the tell-tale signs of fruit.

A few times a week we checked on the fruit and were delighted to see the berries were growing.  That year we harvested a hand full or two, the bears and deer enjoyed the rest.

By the 4th year the vines were loaded with berries.

We made jars and jars of blackberry jam, cooked yummy blackberry cobbler with scoops of ice-cream and put some in the freezer to enjoy during the deep cold grip of winter.

This year is another abundant harvest.  Yum!

Till Next Time
~willa~