Being the end of summer and beginning of fall, the blackberries are ripe and we decided that we were going to pick some this year.  So my husband and I got to work.  I geared up with my boots and jeans and long-sleeved shirt.  My husband had the clippers for those vines that just won’t stay out of the way.  It took a few hours, but we picked several gallons of berries and now they’re in the freezer for when we crave berries in the winter.

After doing all of that picking, I wanted to share a few observations.

No matter how prepared you are, be prepared to get a few scratches.  My hands, my arms, my neck all got scratched.  Thorns embedded themselves in my fingers and palms.

Sometimes you have to change your perspective to find what you’re looking for.  I don’t know how many times I thought I was done picking in particular spot only to notice bunches of blackberries after I had moved to another spot.  It just required changing my position, thus my perspective, and I found more berries.

It’s easier to tackle prickly jobs if you don’t do it alone.  My husband used the clippers to remove the vines that were blocking the way to the berries.  He also removed the ones that wanted to tangle themselves in my hair.  He didn’t clip the ones with the berries.  He made it easier.

Take time to eat a few berries and enjoy the task.  I don’t know who can resist eating berries while picking berries.  I ate a couple of handfuls of berries.  My dog also ate some of the berries that had fallen to the ground.  Of course, that was in between times where she tried to go exploring in the blackberry bushes and I had to go rescue her.  She likes getting herself all tangled up.  But we had fun.

So here’s to blackberries and doggies and kittens and thoughts of berries in the middle of a cold, rainy winter.