Berry Patch

Last year I planted blackberries and raspberries around 3 sides of my apiary.   The berries act as a windblock for the bees and it was nice to give the berries a place where they could go a little hogwild.

And they have.   Some of the canes are a good 12 feet long.   When we prune next, I'm going to pull out my 4 ft stakes and put in some 6 ft ones so I can impose some order into this thicket and make it easier to harvest.

As it is, Pepper snags the ripe berries at the bottom and we lose a few on the interior of the thicket where they can't be seen, but we're getting enough that everyone is happily munching on fresh blackberries most days.  

Berry Patch Update

The berry patch I planted this spring is doing well.   Here's a pic of it with the berries all growing up.   I keep my beehives in the center.   The berries protect the hives and the bees keep berry loving critters from getting tooo close.  Like the dog. 

I got all the berries from Stark Bros on sale, because I'm cheap and because getting those combo packs is a great way to try out several varieties. 

There are a bunch of blackberries, red raspberries and golden raspberries in here.   Many have actually borne fruit this year in spite of being babies.    This gives me hope that next year I'll have enough fruit for lots of pies.   And tarts.   And jam.   And more pies.   And maybe some to freeze.  

Blackberry Jelly

I only make one kind of real jelly.   Blackberry jelly.

We have acres of wild blackberries - some of them are probably the wild brambles instead of actual blackberries.   Some years they're small and bitter and sour.   This year they're larger - even in the heat and drought.  They're also sweeter.   We wonder if it has something to do with the bees?  Or maybe the mild winter?   Or maybe the long easy spring?   At any rate, they're delicious this year and it's a pleasure to make jelly with them.

I start out by picking as many berries as we can in a morning without expiring from the heat, humidity and ticks.   We're pretty tired out when we get done.   As soon as we recover, this is how it goes:

1.  Wash the berries and pick out the grass seeds, leaves, stems, bugs, etc.

2.  Put the berries in a big pot with a few cups of water and cook them until they're boiling a bit.   They'll turn red.

3.  Line a big colander or chinois with cheescloth.  Set the colander/chinois over a big pot to catch the juice.

4.  Ladle the berries into the cheesecloth.

5.  Use a spoon to press the juice out of the mash or gather the corners of the cloth and roll them up to squeeze as much juice as you can out.

6.  Discard the mash.  Chickens love it.

7.  Save the juice.   You can can it as is to use later, or use it now to make syrup or jelly.

Blackberry Syrup

• Blackberry juice
• Sugar [1/2 as much sugar as blackberry juice]

Measure the juice into a pot.   You'll need half as much sugar as juice.   Add the sugar to the juice and bring to boil.   Ladle into jars and process for canning, 10 minutes for pints.


Blackberry Jelly

• 4 cups blackberry juice
• 3 Tablespoons Dutch Jell All Natural Lite pectin
• 2 cups sugar

Mix the juice and pectin in a large pot.   Bring to hard rolling boil, stirring constantly.  Boil hard for 1 minute.    Add sugar.  Stir well and bring back to hard rolling boil, stirring constantly.   Boil hard for 1 minute.   Ladle into jars and process 10 minutes for canning.  Yield 2.5 pints.

Note:  I like jelly with a soft gel.  I don't like to carve my jelly out of the jar.  I like it to wiggle.  Like jell-o.   This Dutch Jell All Natural Lite pectin gives a great soft gel.   Their recipe calls for a rounded 1/3 of a cup of the pectin, but so far I've found that 3 Tablespoons gives a great reliable gel with everything except strawberries, which needed the full rounded 1/3 cup and then gelled great.

Blackberry Heaven

The first thing to move in after we did was the blackberries.   Our place had been grazed by cattle for over a century.   We did not have a single blooming dogwood or redbud on this place.   We did not have a tractor either, so the big mowing stopped when we moved here.

And the blackberries moved right on in.  These are the classic 'brambles'.   The berries are good, but smaller than commercial blackberries.  The seeds are bitter, so it's best to make jelly and syrup with it and take the seeds out.

I mow around the big patches as closely as I can so that they're easier to get to to pick.   That also helps control them - a bit.

We have a tractor now and as soon as it's up and running and we learn how to drive it, then we have plans for maintaining the blackberries in a more reasonable way.

Here's a pic of some of the berries on the big hill.  Blow it up for a better view.   They're blooming now and the whole hill looks and smells wonderful. 

Here's a pic of just one of the patches.  The canes at the center are around 8 feet tall.   We have other patches where the canes are taller. 

Scary.  

We've got those scheduled for 'maintenance' first. 

Maintenance will consist of mowing off 4' rows. in three sections.  One section will be path [grass].  One section will be mowed right away to let grow up over the year so that we can harvest next year [2013].    In the fall after harvest, we'll mow off what we picked on this year and let it get started growing for the following year [2014].  Then it's just a matter of keeping the paths always mowed and then mowing this year's berries after harvest so they can get going again.

Why 4'?   Because that's what I can lean into to pick through.    And if we lose a year for some reason, a 4' row would be easier for me to take out with the little riding mower.  

Blackberry Barbeque Sauce

Remember what I said the other day about desperation?

Desperation makes me creative.

I had a lot of blackberries I needed to use.    I was desperate to use them.   Desperate I tell you.

But not in jelly.   And not in syrup.  And not in bags of mixed berries in the freezer for pies later.

Even though I love blackberry jelly and syrup and bags of mixed berries in the freezer for pies later, I have enough.  

Enough is enough. 

So I really, really needed to find something else to do with more blackberries. I was desperate.  Before they took over the house.  And desperation resulted in creativity.

And creativity resulted in Blackberry Barbeque Sauce.     It's delicious.   As a bonus, it used up some cans of diced tomatoes I had in the pantry.   Here's the recipe:

Blackberry Barbeque Sauce

• 2 cans diced tomatoes 
• 2 large cloves garlic
• 1 small-medium onion, diced
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 4 cups blackberry juice
• 1 cup  white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp molasses
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1 TB salt

Heat the tomatoes, onion and garlic until soft.   Puree in blender.   Put back into wide bottom pot.  Combine the rest of the ingredients in the pot and simmer until reduced by half.    Adjust spices to taste.  Makes 6 1/2 cups. 

Notes:

• Blackberry juice:   Cook the blackberries with a bit of water [so they don't stick to the pot].   Mash.  Strain seeds and skins out.    I line my chinois [colander, sieve, strainer] with cheesecloth, put the mash in, and squeeze the juice out. 
• Consistency:  We like it on the thin side.  If you want it thicker, cook it longer. 
• You can halve the recipe if you need to.

Blackberry Marinade

We have so many good blackberries this year that we've been reading up a bit on cool stuff to do with berries.   We love The Berry Bible by Janie Hibler.    It's chock full of information about berries of all kinds and what to do with them.  

She has a great section on sauces and after reading some of hers, we started playing around with a recipe of our own for a blackberry marinade.   It was great on pork shoulder chops!

Blackberry Marinade

• 2 cups blackberries
• Zest and juice of 1 small lime
• 1/4 tsp chipotle powder.   [More if you really like chipotle]
• 2 green onions chopped.
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 1 T red wine vinegar
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/8 tsp paprika.  
• OPTIONAL:   5 T sugar [if you want a sweet marinade]

Put berries in saucepan.  Mash while heating.   Add other ingredients and heat until everything is well mixed and dissolved.   Refrigerate until chilled.    Spoon over meat and let marinate for several hours or overnight.