Thursday, September 20, 2012

foraging

On Sunday I had a fantastic afternoon foraging for wild blackberries right here in Lynton. There was nothing difficult about it (except reaching through nettles and spider webs) - blackberries cover almost every wall and line every road around this time of year. In the space of a couple hours I had more than enough of these tiny, sweet and delicious berries to make the crumble I had in mind, success!

blackberries on the roadside

There were so berries, and I was having such a great time that I wanted to continue picking all afternoon! In the end I chose to leave some for the other foragers and not be to piggish. Having only tasted blackberries from the supermarket before, I was happily surprised to find that these little berries are the perfect balance of sweet and tart and taste so much better than anything from the store. They are also a lot cuter - obviously very important!
 
blackberries on the roadside

As I was picking, countless great baking ideas came to me. I decided in the end that the crumble I planned from the start was the right thing to make, just because I wanted to keep things simple and let the taste of the blackberries be the main event. That's not to say that I won't bake up all those other goodies next weekend when I do it all over again, yippeeee!

freshly harvested wild blackberries

 Washing the berries was interesting. As much as I like to get my hands dirty (I do) and enjoy a day spent exploring the forest, fields or any wilderness around me...I don't like bugs very much. I especially don't like touching the squirmy, slimy ones...that were crawling all over my little bag of berries. I bravely (and as gently as possible) removed all the little creatures and carefully washed my berries in preparation for the crumble!

I was so pleased with it in the end that I ate far, far too much. By the time it was finished baking the sun was down and my hope of getting a great photo was gone with it. Here is the best I could muster
 
wild blackberry and apple crisp

There is still a little bit left that is calling to me from the kitchen right now........

In knitting news, I've been ever so focused on my latest design project. Last post I mentioned that I cast on one sleeve. Since then, I've knit up the second sleeve and worked through a good chunk of the body as well - record time!

comfort jumper

comfort jumper

comfort jumper

I love knitting on something so simple, and I've had such a clear idea of what I want this sweater to be - everything is working up easily so far. I'm sure in saying that I've just put some massive curse on myself...here's hoping not!

I will leave you with a few pictures I grabbed on my blackberry walk. The hydrangeas are all blooming now, and some of the colours that are coming up just blow my mind! Hope you like them...
hydrangeas

hydrangeas

hydrangeas

3 comments:

  1. The blackberries look scrumptious.... great photos of the yarn and hydrangeas....happy adventures!!!!!!

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  2. I so love those blue hydrangeas and the BERRIES!!! Autumn is really the best season, enjoy.

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  3. That blackberry pie made with freshly picked berries... oh my...!
    Really like your photos!

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