Blackberry Attitude

Remember Strawberry Pickin'? Well, this past weekend we went a blackberry pickin' with some friends. Same, delicious, lovable, so sweet farm, R and C Dairy. This is where we get our weekly CSA (sorta like a co-op....but not. And more amazing. More on that later...)

Now, I'm not the biggest fan of blackberries, they are always too tart and I'm not a fan of the ol' seeds. (Obviously I'm now a certified farmer and must talk like one?) These though, are so sweet and plump you don't even notice the seeds. It's actually a lot easier to pick them then strawberries, especially for the kids since ripe is clearly defined as not-red. Well, unless you are Nickittypickitty who likes her blackberries a little red and tart. She was "accidentally" picking all the sorta red ones and then blaming her children like all good mommies do. Luckily her kids are so darned cute that you don't really pay attention to her blackberries at all. I mean her son wears cleats to go strawberry picking (or really anything at all). How cute is THAT!?

Oh and my boys were pretty cute too, despite walking all the way to the fields and then Lil'Dude needing to use the restroom, starting what is sure to be a chain of events from kid to kid after just one starts it.

Sharing his blackberries with the cuteness that is E-who-is-all-things-Cute....awwwwww

My boys & I

Brewerman & the boys

Lil'Dude picking...he was very intent on getting only the best

Train...timeout to watch

Filling his basket

Anywhos, the boys had funs, despite a breakdown mid-through when I made Lil'Guy dump his full basket into the main one so he could pick more. The horror! Why I didn't just let it go, I don't know, but it made for some good fun.

Meltdown of the day. Of course I took a picture! Who wouldn't?

I went a little crazy and got a gallon of them plus a small additional one that some jerk wouldn't pay for since they overfilled their bucket. But I am not at all regretting it. So far, I have made jam (JAM!) and even canned it all by myself. Now, those of you who have canned stuff are probably not very impressed but I'm banking on the fact that most of you are semi-lazy/scaredy cats like me and are thoroughly impressed, completely in awe of my awesomeness right now.

10 jars of somethin' somethin'

Still not impressed?

I also made Blackberry syrup. But since I'm such a food-nerd now, I added allspice. It's how I roll.

Oh, and I made crepes. From scratch. With organic honey yogurt and my syrup on top.

Boom.

Afterward I froze my homemade chicken stock in ice cubes for recipes.

It's okay, we can't all be cool like me. But your welcome for being your inspiration.

Okay so maybe that's laying it on a little thick. To be fair I will not be starting my own garden anytime soon, I do not plan on canning my own tomatoes, and will not, I repeat will NOT bake my own bread. Oh, and while I really should, I will not be giving up sugar like my ultra cool friend Abamallama, who really is an inspiration to me.

Ok so where was I? Oh! Now we are going swimming. Again! But I love it. The boys swim pretty well and since they REFUSE to wear any sort of life vest or support whatsoever I guess they have no choice. Lil'Dude can even bring up his head out of water already this year. And he is super excited that if he stands on his tippy toes and no big waves come through he can even walk around in the not-so-shallow end. It really is quite adorable.

But you know what isn't adorable? When I asked my oldest darling child to grab my camera so I could download these fab pictures, he tells me "I don't know where it is....and I don't care either."


But...I made blackberry jam this weekend!