An update on last weekend:
Get a load of these blackberries! It’s not your imagination and not because these are close-up pics…these are the biggest blackberries I have ever, ever seen. We went last weekend down to Petals from the Past, which I wrote about last year, for their annual Black and Blueberry festival. It’s time for blackberries and blueberries to come in, so they open up for a weekend of berry picking.
We missed it last year and my hubby has never been down here, but has a keen interest in blackberries and blueberries, so we went and he was thoroughly impressed with the presentation.
Like me, many of you probably have fond memories growing up of picking wild blackberries in the woods, chiggers eating you alive, but oh were those some fun times. There’s just nothing like fresh blackberries. Cobblers, with ice cream, they are a summer staple for us. Those wild blackberries are getting harder and harder to find. My hubby found some last year and we managed to make a couple of blackberry crisps, so he was determined to get more this year. You can see how they train the berries up on wires and posts which makes picking them a piece of cake. They were selling them for $5 a pint and we got 3 pints of them to bring home.
He’s picked a few berries on our property, as well as in our neighboring woods, but I’m tellin’ ya, they are nothing, nothing like these beauties.
My mouth gaped open as I walked up to the vines and saw this feast for the eyes. They are HUGE! We sat in on a demonstration from the owner’s father, who is a former professor for Auburn University and a highly respected horticulturist in Alabama, Arlie Powell. He gave step by step instructions on how to grow these at home, so my hubby paid close attention and took home the handout. You can bet next year we’ll have some blackberries and blueberries planted at our house.
The blueberries are just now getting ripe. Beautifully planted, they really take good care of their fruit crops.
Nothing like fresh blueberries too. My parents have several large blueberry bushes at their home in NC and we love to go up there and pick. My mom says the bushes are loaded this year, so we’ll plan to go up at the end of July and get some of those.
Aren’t they beautiful?
Figs are also grown here.
More blueberries, up close.
It’s a nursery as well and they have heirloom plants and lots of fun garden items for sale. Such a fun place to visit and take your kids for an outing. They do several events a year. This is a family owned nursery and well known in Alabama.
Lacecap hydrangeas are just beautiful right now.
And the bees were having a fun time with them.
An oakleaf hydrangea with huge blooms.
And they also have muscadine grapes growing too.
Here you can see how big they are next to a quarter. Amazing, huh?
They are just too pretty (almost!) to eat.
I couldn’t resist taking a pic in this white bowl.
And I made a blackberry crisp, which I shared the recipe last year, but will post again:4 cups fresh blackberries
1/2 cup sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
2 TBL. flour, plus 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter
Mine wasn’t crumbly when I mixed it all with the butter, but I melted the butter & that’s probably why. I think if you let the butter soften & then mix, it would be crumbly.
With a little vanilla frozen yogurt, it was certainly yummy!
My mouth is literally watering after seeing all those delicious berries. I can’t wait for strawberry season, myself. There is nothing like nature’s candy to tempt the tastebuds!
Congratulations on your new writing gig! It is well-deserved!!!
Linda
Okay, it’s after 11:00PM and I’m craving blackberry cobbler! Those look so huge and so delish!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Kat
What a great day pickin berries. You reminded me that it is berry season. We have a great berry farm up in the local mountains and I guess we better get up there while the berries are still there. We usually get blackberries and raspberries. Yumm!
I absolutely love Petals From the Past and visit several times a year. Everyone should treat themselves to going at least once!!
I love to eat blackberries. I will always remember when we were kids and visiting our grandparents in Missouri, they had blackberries down the road from them. We went picking one day and when we came back my grandmother made a blackberry cobbler from scratch. It was delicious. I’ll never forget that.
Thanks for sharing
Ciao
Glenda
Wonderful berries, Rhoda! Wish we could find some like that, around here. Blackberries, the small wild ones, grew on our pond bank, at the farm. When I saw your post, the first thing that popped into my head after seeing the beautiful berries, was the thought of picking berries and o my those chiggers!
Pat
I’m so glad you posted this! I get the Petals newsletter, but got so busy with wedding stuff that I forgot about going down there! If berries are still in, I’ll be pickin on Tuesday. Gonna try your blackberry crisp, too.
Thanks for the post and the recipe!
Those blackberries look amazing. I feel like I could pluck them right off the screen and pop them in my mouth! Yum. -Julia
You have officially got my tastebuds going crazy Rhoda!! I guess you shouldn’t read your blog on an empty stomach! Ha! 🙂
It all looks so yummy! I’ve seen huge berries like that at the local farmer’s market and they are amazing. Can’t wait to pick some berries and try that recipe!
The majority of clinical care should still be provided on an individual cialis dosage 15mg, patient specific basis. The ingredients in this have been precisely balanced to complement each other and produce positive results in a basically short time. To use a cialis dosage 15 mg product as safely as possible.http://www.buy-cialis-online-now.com
Thanks a ton for blogging this, it was unbelieveably informative and told me a ton