Blackberrying

I’m late this year with my blackberry collecting, but there again everything has been late this year from a plant perspective so I tell myself that it’s fine.

The lane at the bottom of the croft is full of brambles. I’ve been watching them develop as we pass and promising myself that I would find the time soon. Yesterday was the day.

I’d been over to a friends at Drumfearn to drop off some homemade chutney. Laura is a very talented basket maker and willow weaver and she had made a berry basket for me.

It’s a lovely thing, woven with different types of willow to give a subtle effect. She’s very talented.

And so, even before the label was removed, it was pressed into service as I returned home and passed the blackberry bushes.

Despite being a small basket it holds a surprising amount and it took forty minutes to even fill the bottom.

Most of them have been frozen on a tray and added to my winter blackberry stash which I add to sausage traybakes and apple crumbles. But a cupful was reserved for my morning yoghurt and granola and very delicious they were too.

One day I will reach the nirvana of picking enough berries to make blackberry wine. Joanne Harris, the author, has a lot to be responsible for – ever since I read her book BlackBerry Wine over ten years ago I’ve wanted to make some.

One day soon.