I was only a matter of time — but I finally broke down and took the family down to the coast to do some blackberry picking. You see, in riding my bike between Independence and Corvallis every day, I get to smell the blackberries along side the road. Now, I wouldn’t eat any of the berries along side the road (for fear that someone might have sprayed them), but oh, they make my ride smell like someone is always cooking blackberry pie. My wife’s been a good sport about the whole thing — as our conversations when I first come into the door have been something along the line of…”Mummm…I could almost taste the blackberries today. I wonder where we could go to find some around here” and so forth. Unfortunately, outside of a farm, I’m not really sure I’d pick berries from anywhere near by — since there is a very real chance the that city, state or even nearby private property owners could have sprayed them. Also, I’m really more into the eating and possibly the picking, of blackberries. The actual making of the pie is a bit outside my cooking expertise. I don’t do pastries well — because I don’t like to measure things. Dinners, etc…these meals rarely require precise measurements, but pastries I’ve found, really tend to.
Anyway, about two weeks ago, I finally decided that I couldn’t go without some blackberries. So, my wife, bless her heart, found that the blackberry festival in Coos Bay was going on over the 26th-27th. So, we packed up the kids and drove down for a visit. The festival was fun, visiting family was great — but I now have enough blackberries for 4 pies in the freezer….Mummm. So mission accomplished. 🙂
–TR