Blackberries

The blackberries have arrived! They are delicious this year. Last year they were not as juicy or sweet, due I think to less rain last spring than we had this spring.
Here they are on the plant...you can see there are some not yet ripe.

I spent some time picking them this morning, which was a good idea because now, in the afternoon, it is very hot outside. What I noticed on our bushes was that there were some that were still red, and even some still pale green. They will eventually ripen into a delicious juicy black, and then will be picked and eaten fresh or made into jam.

We have several patches of blackberries scattered all over our hill. It's a difficult task to pick them because blackberry plants have very sharp thorns which snag clothing and skin. Ouch! Sometimes I wonder why they must grow those painful thorns.

Julia