On 6/16/2014 8:34 PM, bluechick wrote:
On Sun, 15 Jun 2014 10:16:49 -0400, songbird
wrote:

bluechick wrote:
songbird wrote:

I can sympathize. Dewberry picking is much the same, plus dealing
with thorns. At least with blackberries, it's mostly standing and
moving instead of kneeling and crouching. That can kill your back and
knees. Hope you had good luck with the strawberry picking and that
you had enough for a double batch.

i filled up another sink in an hour and a half
of picking (larger berries make things go much
faster). set aside enough mashed berries for
eight batches of jam and had enough sugar and
jars to do four batches later on. those 12 pints
set up perfectly and are safely frozen by now.
the other four batches i'll do later today when
Ma returns from town.

Yep, you were busy! Glad you got all that done. I had to quit after
one batch since I didn't have enough sugar. Could have sworn I had
another 5 lbs in the pantry. Must have grown legs and taken a walk.
At least I can rest up tonight and do another batch or two
tomorrow. I re-measured after last night's processing. Even after
today's batch of jelly was done I still have over 10 cups of juice!
Gah! I don't want to see another blackberry this season.

i've called in reinforcements for picking there's
a lot still out there that i'm not going to use.
many gallons worth. in previous years i've been
done with planting by now and could go out and
pick and process berries to give them away to
others for shortcake, etc. but this year, nope,
they're going to have to pick if they want them.

Amen to that! Everyone wants my jelly after all that work. Just me
and DH doing the picking while braving heat, mosquitoes and ticks.
Yep, they're hiding in the blackberry bushes - we've seen 4 of the
vile things either on us or in the sink after rinsing the berries. I'm
now more worried about ticks than I am snakes. But enough of those
grabby hands wanting the finished product. They can pick the berries
if they want 'em. We've invited everyone over to pick but surprise!
They won't do it.

there's some newer neighbors i've not met yet
that i might pop over today and invite them to
pick too.

I hope you have better luck than we've had, trying to get people to
pick. I hate to have fruit rot on the plant or go 100% to the birds
and bugs. Seems wasteful, but one can only pick and process so much
before it gets to be too big an ordeal.

To bad you're not nearby, we love picking FREE fruit. Around here we
have to go to a berry farm and pay to pick, still cheaper than
supermarket prices. We miss all the nice people in Louisiana who allowed
us to pick muscadines, pears, persimmons, oranges, grapefruit, and other
fruits for free. They got rewarded with jellies, jams, and multiple
goodies for their generosity. We will probably go back there this fall
and pick a hundred lbs of canning pears and stay with friends while we
do it. Nice folks those Cajuns.

George