Berries are Back!

The berries are back. I've posted before about my compulsion to pick. It seems like every time we go for a nature walk these days we end up stuck (literally!) picking berries. Blackberries and wild raspberries are ready to go right now. We get all scratched up and sticky. We battle thorns, poison ivy and spider webs. We need tick checks when we get home (we have lots of nasty ticks here). But we still go into the thickets because it's fun and the reward of wild berries is worth it.

We were lucky to find a running stream to wash off our very sticky hands.

I have been making a lot of berry crumbles, the days have been fairly cool for this time of year and I'm in the mood to bake. I use oats, coconut sugar, butter and whatever flour I happen to grind up. I keep coconut, wheat berries, and other grains in the freezer to make into quick flours in the Vitamix.

Yummy berry scones for tea.

 I am out of berries, so we will be off and picking again later this week. I am always on the lookout for more yummy berry recipe ideas, so if you have any please do share!

Yarn Berry

My daughter was busy working on Photoshop. "Don't look!", "It's a surprise!" she said whenever I would walk by. She surprised me with this Yarn Berry that she based on my berry blog post.

Of course I had to share it here!

Then we went picking again...

I promise my next post will have nothing to do with berries.

Summer Berry Knits

Why am I knitting during the hottest most humid week of the summer? I don't know! With all the other summer activities I thought I would put knitting off until September, but I just couldn't do it. I found a bag full of ends of some of my favorite yarns. Little red balls like berries, waiting to be turned into something tasty. So, I started knitting a tank top...yeah a wool tank top. Strange but true.

My other fixation these days is berry picking. These things are popping up everywhere and so abundantly. Even though it has been 100 degrees we are out there picking away. It gets to be a compulsion, once you start something primal kicks in and you are possessed to grab every red jewel you see. And that's a lot. 

Every time we decide we've had enough and start walking away we spy another cluster that just begs picking.

Of course we were eating berries the entire time we were picking, but as soon as we got our bounty home we ate more. This time with whipped cream. They lasted a few days for fresh eating and then I made jam tarts from what was left. Looking at these pictures is giving me that urge to go picking again very soon.