Archives
7:12:00 AM EDT
Feeling Mellow
Dawns early light
Growing up in the country had so many advantages that city kids never dreamed of. Nowadays few of the country kids would dare dream of it.
At the break of dawn long before the sun came up my siblings and I would get dressed in long sleeve shirts, pants,socks & shoes. Hey, we're country folks we don't get dressed up for any ole occasion. One thing we didn't do was wear anything red, the old bull out in the pasture didn't seem to like that color.
We'd grab our buckets and Mom would give us stern warning not to play in the creek, we might get leeches. Off to Grandma & Grandad's farm we went, crossing over and under the fences, dodging the many cow pies & horse dumplings along the way. We were on a mission and nothing was going to stand in our way, not even the snakes that seemed to enjoy our presence from time to time.
Intent on the task at hand we would walk into the beautiful valley and before us was a sight to behold. It was blackberry pickin' time!
Each morning we would pick the plumpest, sweet & juicy blackberries you've ever seen. Bucket after bucket full. And then......we would roll our pant legs up and go down in the forbidden creek. It was so refreshing after a morning of hard labor.
We proudly carried our bounty home along with those sneaky little chiggers that seemed to find every nook and cranny they could hide in. One year I carried home something much worse, infintago (sp?). I was so upset when I was told I couldn't go blackberry picking anymore that year. I have faint scars above my ankles from that infection.My legs had to be soaked in five gallon buckets of water with something in it, I don't recall what it was. Then I had to apply a special medicated salve.
Blackberry picking is how we earned our first dollars. I can't remember how word got out that we had the nicest blackberries around. After Mom canned all she needed for us and made many cobblers we sold our blackberries for $8.00 a gallon. We didn't set the price the folks that loved our berries offered that much and they did it every year. We couldn't supply enough for all who wanted them. When my grandparents sold their farm one of the ladies who bought many berries from us told us how much she was going to miss them.
We have blackberry bushes along our fence line in the back of our property. Gary told me yesterday that there are lots of berries on the vines getting ready to ripen, though they are small.This old country gal isn't going to let a little chigger keep her from having at least one blackberry cobbler.
Written by sugerb6 Blog about this entry |
Add to del.icio.us | 
digg this
-
This city gal had a few berry pickin' experiences to relate to your story and salivate over the outcome. Darn diet!!! Leaves me wanting but not having...lol
Karen -
You make picking berries so interesting and exciting. I love reading your stories. Hope you are planning on saving me a piece of cobbler so I can take to the concert with Terri. LOL Have a happy tomorrow. : )
Allison -
WOW! Sherry and I were just talking about that yesterday and today. Blackberry picking! It always semed to take me so long to cover the bottom of the bucket. (I ate too many) but once the bottom was covered it seemed to go much faster. I never picked as many as you were talking about, but knew many who did! Chiggers! Ah not a good memory!
This is a great entry SugarB. Loved it.
Funny thing happened a few years ago. Our Daughter in law bought a gallon and shared them with us. I had a recipe and made a couple cobblers. I ate most of them before I realized I was eating a couple cups of sugar and a stick of butter, etc. But I do love blackberry Pie and jelly.
Jack -
$8 a gallon...wow that was alot of money back then...
Imagine that...you all doing what you was told not to do...going down to the creek...lmao
Love ya
Terri
7/2/08 8:05 PM
Jack