Down around our pond we have a huge tangle of blackberries. They are intertwined with wild grapes and poison ivy, and every year we brave the bugs and weeds and pick as many as we can reach. There have been years when we freeze bags and bags of berries, and then we have a year like this one... where we miss the season completely.
We got caught up in waiting for a path to be mowed around the thicket and we just plain waited too long to make it down there. We didn't know it was too late, though, when we decided on a morning to go check this past week.
Now, there is a lot of poison ivy in and around the blackberries, and Mama has had a rough encounter with it before (that kinda traumatized everyone), so before we headed out the door the kids decided to design their own poison ivy-proof outfits. It took them about 15 minutes before they were ready to go check things out...
...but once every inch of skin was covered (from the neck down), we got the green light to go down to the blackberry patch.
Sadly, after all that trouble, we got down there and figured out they were pretty much done! We found about a handful of berries still on the vines, but most of them were dehydrated or just plain gone. What I thought was awesome, though, was the upbeat attitude of my bundled-up Littles, who came away with their little handful of berries feeling accomplished and proud that they were able to pick them all with no poison ivy, thanks to their creative getups.
At least we'll know just what to wear when blackberry season comes back next year!
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