Blackberry Adventure

Penny had a haircut appointment this morning and my cold has relented. It was a beautiful morning. I decided to go on this year’s first blackberry quest. I loaded up the kayak and headed up the bayou.

One should always wear a long sleeve shirt and have gloves to protect the hands from thorns when one goes blackberry picking—next time I will remember this.

The stream feeding the bayou was quiet and beautiful as I worked my way up to where the blackberries were. I found only small patches with ripe berries. Maneuvering the kayak close enough to pick the ripe berries, avoiding the thorns, branches and fighting the current of the stream turned out to be an interesting challenge. I ended up entangled a couple of times but avoided any serious scratches. I only got punctured once on my palm. Sometimes the berries were literally hanging into the boat. Sometimes the best berries were just out of reach--I had to let them go.

Coincidentally one time when I was wrapped in vines and thorns I spied a mosquito that had just caught itself in a spider web and was trying its best to get free as the spider made its approach. I sort of knew how it felt. I looked around to make sure there was no big spider stalking me. I finished picking in that spot and carefully freed myself. As I did I saw the mosquito make one last effort and manage to break free and fly off.


I was visited by a fuzzy caterpillar that dropped onto the kayak and got bobbed at by a couple of lizards as I made my rounds. There was a lone osprey perched on the tree where the nest was last year. I saw a couple of pairs of osprey flying around.



Since the picking was lean I spent about 2 hours out there. I called Penny to let her know I was OK and would be late. She was going to make Pasta Cruda for lunch and I didn’t want her to start it too soon. I ended up with only about a pint of berries today. After the Cruda lunch Penny made blackberry topping and baked some biscuits. Instead of apple snack we had blackberries on biscuits. It was a good eating day—fresh basil from the garden—fresh blackberries from Mother Nature.

There are lots of berries yet to ripen out there. I don’t know how long it takes for them to get ripe but another berry run is definitely in the future.