Blackberries

So many blackberries about now. I love seeing them and eating them, picking them and being part of them. Some thoughts on free food and as usual noticing the small stuff.

Seeing a lot of blackberries at the moment, it is the season, they are everywhere and giving me a great sense of purpose on my walks. Picking some (having a dog is useful - always have a bag handy) on my walks, half to eat, half for the freezer. To remind me of summer sun and light in the dark winter months. Either for added nutrients to spice up the muesli or add some warmth to an apple crumble or cake. Hmmm, almost wanting winter to arrive, but no, we need a bit more summer first please.

Now you can see the progression of a blackberry, from incarnation to the final display, proud and radiating for all to see. Showing off, inviting you pick and eat it. A fair exchange, food for life - in all aspects. Flowers still on the brambles and then the blackberry bush palette of grey-green to green to red to purple to black. Increasing in size through each colour and sweetness. Not wanting you to eat it until it is ready and the seeds are in the correct state for regeneration. Nobody is going to eat a green blackberry more than once, yes we have all tried it at some point. Or else why would they be called blackberry if this was not the correct time we should interact with them.

The blackberry is beautiful. It is succulent, it's little globes all sticking out, bursting with juice and flavour, can you see it, are you salivating, just slightly? You know what I mean. Inviting you to pick it and pop it in your mouth and crush it. The anticipation, because, as you know, some are still not quite ready, but they look good. And a sharpness fills your mouth, but still not unpleasant, but not quite as good. Then you get a good one, blackberry fills your mouth, your senses,  a mouthful of summer sun and early morning dew. Try eating blackberries and not smile. Impossible. This is why they are so good in winter. They are a bundled up package of sunlight and water. Made by the summer sun for distribution when the seasons are dark. When we need a reminder of the summer just past and that there is a summer to come.

Maybe why we love them so and why they taste so good is that we have to undertake some work to earn them. Blackberry bushes, also known as brambles, work hard to protect their fruit and don't give them up easily. Their long slender stems are filled with sharp thorns that we have to negotiate. Spiders, other creatures and nettles often sit close by. We have to watch our feet and legs as we move in. Then spy our chosen pray, work out how we are going to negotiate the array of thorns to pluck our chosen one. Even then, it may not come easily. The bramble may not be ready to release its fruit to you just yet. A gentle tug should be sufficient, if it doesn't come then, let it be for another day. But if we do everything correctly and it gives easily, then the rewards are worth it.

But now, the dilema, do we eat or place in our bag or box? One for me, one for the box, seems reasonable. Our fingers purple from the effort, yep some are squishy and break open rather than pull clean off. Scratches and stings on fingers, hands, arms, legs tell of the battle of the collection. A small price to pay for such a reward. Find some dock or plantain to rub onto sore skin to sooth. Or have another couple of blackberries, you'll soon forgive and forget.

Remember, according to Robin Wall Kimmerer in her amazing book Braiding Sweetgrass;

Don't take the first or last,

Take only what is given,

Take only what you need,

Use all that you take.

Wise words. She also says that some plants should only be given freely and I feel that blackberries fit this category. They are freely available, providing we put in a bit of effort. This reciprocal relationship with nature is very strong with blackberries. They are made to picked freely and shared. The bramble gives them up to us and we should respect this. They are abundant and free to all. The brambles want us to have them to help them, but this also helps us. They are packed with goodness and are good for us, and taste amazing. A two way process, a fair exchange.

Blackberries shouldn't be sold, they should be given freely, as the bramble gives them to us, and then we pass them on. Blackberries grown on sterile, non-spikey brambles, controlled and collected, distributed in plastic tubs are difficult to see as the same thing as the wild ones growing in the hedgerows. (I find this with many aspects of modern life). I know I am lucky, I live close to where there are many. I can easily walk and pick them. It is not so much the growing and packaging but the selling. I agree with Robin Wall Kimmerer that somethings should remain sacred and only be given away. I will happily collect you a tub of blackberries and pass them on. Or share with you a slice of apple and blackberry cake over a coffee and chat when the days are dark and cold. This is the nature of nature. Feel free to do the same with someone. But for now go search out some blackberries, get purpled fingers and scratched arms and legs, take your children and show them the beauty of natures harvest. Most importantly enjoy the feeling of eating drops of sunlight as they burst into your mouth, because this is what the blackberries want.