Monday, August 17, 2015

Blackberry Time on Harvest Monday


The story this week is definitely the explosion of blackberries. On Saturday I picked once in the afternoon and then again in the evening. The first time, I don't know that I even walked 20 feet before my berry bucket was full! The berries this year are quite large and very, very sweet. I just don't understand how they have sized up when we really haven't had any significant rain since April and all of the berries that I picked this weekend were on plants growing on a well drained hillside. The fields are all brown and the forest are burning in Oregon but the wild blackberries look amazing. I guess we will just have to enjoy Mother Nature's gift and keep on picking. This week's total was 8 lbs. 4.6 oz. Some of the harvest was cleaned and frozen, some was stashed in the fridge to use right away and the rest was turned into 16 half pint jars of blackberry jam.



"Galina"

The tomatoes are now producing a nice, steady harvest each week.


"Matthew"


"Mountain Magic"

I picked all of the ripe tomatoes on Sunday after I finished my jam-making session. The results were:

  • "Galina" - (26) 5.4 oz
  • "Mountain Magic" - (4) 2.7 oz
  • "Matthew" - (21) 8.4 oz
  • "Esterina" - (8) 1.2 oz
  • "Matina" - (10) 5.4 oz

12 comments:

Susie said...

Your tomatoes are all so perfect looking ... and delicious, I bet. I wish I had blackberries around here, one of my favourites for sure.

Margaret said...

Those blackberries look delicious - I just planted some canes this year and, unlike the raspberries which look like they will be giving me a few berries, I'll have to wait for next year to give the blackberries a taste. How do you find the Mountain Merit? I grew them last year & although they were vigorous and blight resistant, I found the flavour to be lacking. I know that a lot of times this has to do with soil or weather so I always find it interesting to hear what other's think.

Daphne Gould said...

Those blackberries look so good. And eight pounds is a huge amount. I wish I had a place to pick them here.

Eight Gate Farm NH said...

Nice harvests Lexa. Wonderful to have an abundance of blackberries.

Phuong said...

Ah, blackberry season in Oregon. Those canes look absolutely loaded and your jam looks scrumptious. I've never heard of any of your tomato varieties; what did you think of them?

Michelle said...

Wild blackberries are the best tasting, it must be their tough nature. I haven't found a good patch around here, unfortunately. The fires certainly are scary. We had smoke coming from the far northern part of California, a few hundred miles away, it had me a bit freaked out until I figured out it wasn't local.

Unknown said...

Your tomatoes are picture perfect. Amazing blackberry harvest too.

Melissa said...

How wonderful to have *so many blackberries!!!

Homemade Food Junkie said...

Yum! Look at your gorgeous produce! We too are overwhelmed with blackberries and tomatoes and lots of other garden blessings. I'm freezing and drying every day right now. Found you at #TuesdayGradenParty

annies home said...

oh my goodness a down right country bunch of goodness you have here. Those berries I can almost taste the sweetness of and the jelly I am sure taste better than what is available is at the store. Those tomatoes look very tasty my favs would be the tiny orange ones

come see us at http://shopannies.blogspot.com

daisy g said...

Wow, you must have no bug problems with those gorgeous looking tomatoes! Looks like toast and jam is in order for quite a while! Thank you for sharing your outdoor post on The Maple Hill Hop this week!

Barb said...

By the look of your plants, they have enjoyed the hot sunny summer! The blackberry jam looks delicious!