Last August in our first months of living here we wandered (trespassed) into the several-hundred-acres of forested land adjacent to our property, and were hit right in the nose with the smell of… wine. Like it smelled like a wine bar after a particularly sloppy shift. We gave each other one of our little “what on earth is happening here?” looks and trekked forward a few more paces before we realized we were stomping through a landscape littered with blackberries—rotting on the ground, fermenting, and making the whole mountain smell like Uncle Joey before the antipasti even makes it to the table. Just straight forward cheap red wine with a cloyingly vinegar smell.

We steadied ourselves and focused our eyes and realized we were surrounded by blackberry bushes on all sides, with a scattering of the last berries of the season still dangling on their vines. Some of these bushes must have been ten feet tall, with thorns fit for murder. We started nibbling on the berries together to see if they were any good (and also in the case they were poisonous we weren’t going to miss the chance of Romeo and Juieting). Turns out they’re kind of just alright. They’re definitely more tart than store bought blackberries, but extremely flavorful and perfect for jams and jellies and pies—basically anything that involves adding a decent helping of sugar.

I’m happy to report that after a bit more exploring we discovered tons of blackberry bushes on our own property that we can pick from, and we’ve got big dreams of one day packaging up our own jams and preserves for you using some of the fruit. This year’s fruit is just starting to really ripen up, and in a couple of weeks we’ll be able to harvest a whole bunch of berries to start testing out our favorite ways to use it :)

More pictures from our little blackberry excursion below for you, and thanks for stopping by the blog!

xoxo

Beau

& Matt & Fox & Barley & Rye

Blackberry Foraging at Benwood Gardens!