A Berry Good July

We've had a "berry" eventful summer this year. The McKinstry family has been some produce picking people over the past couple months. I recently took Hadley cherry picking and both the kids blueberry picking at Hartland Orchards, the kids hunted down raspberries at NaNa's house, and we've pulled a ton of blackberries off the bushes in our own yard.

Like us, my mom didn't realize all the berries she had on her property until recently, maybe a couple years ago or so after they cleared some land. Now the kids love when it's time for those overgrown bushes to start producing more of those sweet red treats. Mom even has a few black raspberry bushes around. Though we haven't been to her house much this summer, several of those trips involved driving around in the "Chicken Wagon" seeing what we could find.

NaNa also had some mint growing in the yard. The kids liked holding and smelling it as we went.

Caleb found some raspberries!

NaNa put on old shirt on to protect herself from the stickers so she could pick the ones in the back.

Reid didn't get to do any picking, but he sure did enjoy eating the fruit of our labor. I can't tell you how many of those raspberries he ate before I had to cut him off. The stroller was quite a mess at the end of this picking experience.

He liked "steering" the Chicken Wagon too.

Tart?

Hadley and Caleb ate their fair share too. None of the ones Hadley picked were making them to her bucket I don't think. Straight off the bush they went, right into her mouth. Mom and I even put extras in her bucket, which disappeared just as quickly.

Caleb isn't nearly as into the actual picking process as Hadley. After a few berries, he decided to sit on the Chicken Wagon and play around the yard. He was the supervisor, scolding us if we ate any from the bucket, but sneaking a few himself. 

Hey! Put that back!

Hadley didn't have any fear of stickers, bugs, or snakes. She was all in those weeds.

Just a little country girl

We found a few walnuts in the yard too.

It was a good day and we had a bucket full of raspberries to show for it.

I don't like raspberries from the grocery store but LOVE these.

NaNa got to come to our house one day and help us pick berries too. We had a little cookout one evening and played in the yard for a while before she came over to visit. At one point, Hadley snuck around the side of the house. Then, down the hill she went right for the berry bushes. I couldn't find her at first but wasn't' surprised to spot her filling herself up with that sweet, sticky fruit. We've had a time this year keeping her up at the house with the allure of those blackberries so nearby.

Dave and Caleb joined her for a second round.

When NaNa showed up a little later, she got down to business, getting out the shovel to help with the weeds and stickers.

They picked enough to make a pie, but we ended up eating them all sitting by the pool one day.

With all these berries about, I was hoping to make some preserves and do a little canning because I've never tried it before. However, we just never could find the time to go out there and pick enough before the birds ate them or they dried up. I did endeavor to make a blackberry pie though with the help of Caleb, who loves to be in the kitchen. I picked for a while and then Dave went out to finish the job while Caleb watched and kept him company.

See them way down there are the corner of the yard?

Caleb didn't like the stickers, so he let us do the picking.

It took a long while for them to pick all those berries, but at least the boys got some quality time together.

Uh oh! Poor Hadley had already had her bath and only got to watch this time. 

Once we had a big enough bucket, I put them in the fridge to save for the next day because it was too late to get started on a pie. However, the next few days we were too busy to get the job done either, so from Sunday evening on, the berries sat waiting...and waiting...and waiting...Finally, I couldn't put it off any longer, knowing the berries wouldn't be fit to use if we did. (I actually had to throw several of them out as it was.) Despite my best Mommy judgment, Thursday night Caleb and I stayed up late and made that pie. 

I set the ingredients out and helped with the measurements, but I kind of let Caleb make the pie by himself with just a few pointers.

Careful with that flour, Buddy.

Sugar!

Dave suggested we throw in a little cornstarch for good measure because that's what his mom used to do, which was funny because my grandma also made the same suggestion. We followed their advice, but since our recipe called for a fair amount of flour to be mixed in with the berries, I don't think we really needed it. It turned out yummy though so maybe we should just keep things the way we did them.

We had a little bit of mess, but this boy did a nice job.

Proud of his pie

He even did a good job with the crust. I laid it on top and told him what to do; then he sealed it just like he was supposed to.

Typically, he doesn't get to stay up late AND eat sweets, but we'd been talking about this pie for weeks and he was so anxious to see how it turned out and taste it. Again...what was I thinking??!

Pretty good looking pie for a four-year-old :)

Look at that smile!

Yeah...he was a mess the next day!...But, it was worth it. :)

Sadly, I don't think there will be any more berry picking this year, but hopefully next summer we can try some more recipes and maybe even some canning.