Tuesday 2 August 2011

Blackberry picking - what a fabulous day for berries!!

Hello all,

so, I am enjoying my holiday in style. I was sick on Friday, but by Sunday I felt much better and so I went away and today spent the day in the sun with a very, very dear person. We did some sewing together (much more fun than doing it on your own), ate lovely food, drank good wine and delicious English ale (perfect with lunch on a hot day, but only one glass for me, otherwise I'd fall asleep). 

And as you can see from the title, we went blackberry picking. I think blackberries are my favourite of all the berries and we picked 3,5kg in 2 hours!!!! And, had a great time too. And we didn't need to get out of London to do it either. We did it at the common in South Norwood. These berries grow in the parks, they are no one's property and people need to get active and get picking!! That's exactly what we did and here are a few pictures of our "hard labour":


Yep, that's me, stretching really high to get the very sweet, big ones. I got them!!


Here are some ready for picking and some that didn't get enough sun yet.



These were really high. We battled with thorns and have the scratches to prove, but these were just too high and we sadly had to leave them unpicked.




Here is the bowl we almost filled in the first 10 minutes. It was difficult not to eat too many as we picked. Some of them tastedlike the PEZ sweets. You remeber those?




These were the boxes we filled after 2 hours. 





Here is how they look when they are all together.


And, here is one of the happy pickers :-)

We have picked so many berries, four people will be able to share them and not for just one desert. I've put two bags in the freezer so I can treat myself in the winter and will have lots more left for healthy snacks in the next few days.

What are your favourite berries? Do you like picking fruit?

Happy picking!!!
 

Red xx

6 comments:

Jane and Lance Hattatt said...

Hello Red:
What enormous fun - and all of these delicious berries to be found in South Norwood. Amazing!

We too are enjoying the season of blackberries although ours, shame to tell, have been bought from the outside market having been brought into the city from the country. Just recently Tímea, our cook/housekeeper, made the most wonderful tasting blackberry soup. Cold fruit soups are very much a tradition here in Hungary.

Enjoy yours - which we are sure you will!

Boye By Red said...

Hello Jane and Lance,

Cold fruit soups - that sounds good. Never tried or heard of it. I might just give it a try.

Thanks for stopping by.

Diane said...

Boye By Red, thanks for the visit to my blog and your comment. Our black berries here are so small due to the drought that they re not worth picking. I love picking cherries when they are in season, pick one for the bowl and two for the mouth!! We always have so many that it is not a problem, I am even happy to share them with the birds LOL. Diane

Boye By Red said...

Hello Diane,

that's funny, that's exactly what we did - one for the bowl, two for the mouth.
Thank you for your comment and I really enjoy browsing through your blog.
Red

Caroline said...

Wow takes me back to when i was a child, my mom and my grandma would make apple and blackberry pies. Wonderful!

Boye By Red said...

I still have some berries left and might just make a small pie. Thank you for the idea and for stopping by.