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Signs of Summer

July 1st, 2010

One of the best signs of summer (besides bare feet) is berry stained hands. I have many fond memories of picking berries when we were at the family cabin so my grandma could make us a black raspberry pie. Of course we ate as many as we picked and rarely had enough pie, perhaps it was my grandma’s way of getting us out of the cabin?

We’ve been picking a berries for a week or so. We have wild black raspberries growing around the edges of the property. We’re trying to cultivate a few more of them because we don’t have a ton yet, but we get enough for salads and for eating fresh.

My mom has loads of wild black raspberries at her house and we often head over there when she’s gotten all she needs. Yesterday we went over for a work day. Brian cut up a tree, then spent the afternoon picking blueberries and black raspberries and my mom and I worked in the garden.


I still have some black raspberries in the freezer from last year, but you can never have too many tucked away for winter. There really is nothing better on a cold winter evening than a steamy black raspberry pandowdy.

Are you picking any raspberries or other berries?

18 Comments to “Signs of Summer”
  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by mark mile, Susy Morris. Susy Morris said: Signs of Summer http://goo.gl/fb/lHIux #berries #edible #blackraspberries […]

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  2. Teresia on July 1, 2010 at 5:05 am

    The only berries that I am picking are strawberries. I would love to have more berries planted on my grounds,.. guess there is always next year.

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  3. Mangochild on July 1, 2010 at 5:21 am

    Yes! I was actually just looking through some pictures of my family and me over the past weekend, and the ones that really made me smile were the ones of us with berry stained hands and faces, picking, preserving, and devouring all the goodness that comes with this time of year. It’s a special glow in the eyes somehow.

    iStrawberries were a couple of weeks ago here, and with the unusually (but happily) warm weather, the harvests are several weeks ahead of the “normal” schedule. So although we’ve seen the end of strawberries for the year, last week were blueberries, some for freezing/preserving, but the bulk for eating. We plan to go back to our local farms and pick more for the freezing/preserving over the next weeks. And of course the raspberries – preserving and eating straight out of hand. They are so delicate, but so well worth both the picking and the eating :-)

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  4. Jennifer on July 1, 2010 at 8:54 am

    We harvested nearly 4.5 lbs of wild blackberries from our property perimeter last weekend, and that was only what was ripe at the time! It made a nice batch of blackberry jam. The next harvest will also become jam, but with less sugar and some apple mint. Any of the last berries will go to cobbler or muffins, or get frozen for winter use. Nice to have such natural abundance!

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  5. Kelly on July 1, 2010 at 8:56 am

    A few years ago I planted a couple raspberry canes and we now have 3 patches that we get berries from – but only a few berries per day and not enough to do anything with except enjoy. We’ve a big, empty, sunny hill next to our garden that I’m sorely tempted to plant in raspberry.

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  6. Sense of Home on July 1, 2010 at 9:00 am

    Raspberries should start next week, no blackberries in our area though, and the strawberries are still producing a little. We can’t grow enough in our yard to preserve for later, so I have had to buy some at the market to store for winter use.

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  7. Dave on July 1, 2010 at 9:01 am

    We have a whole bunch of blackberries on our slope that we need to get to. Illnesses and the heat have kept us indoors lately, I just hope we beat the birds to them!

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  8. Turling on July 1, 2010 at 10:07 am

    Sweet Mary Jane! Upon looking at the first picture, I thought you had an ax murderer on the prowl. Imagine my relief.

    Still have berries in the freezer from last year? How long do they keep?

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    • Susy on July 1, 2010 at 10:12 am

      Yes, I got a good laugh when I took the photo. Thought about titling the post “Crime Scene”.

      I use berries and things from the freezer until they’re freezer burnt. I find that berries have kept well for me for 18 months, after that they start tasting a little weird. Of course I have a big deep freezer in the basement, things don’t last as long in a frost free freezer.

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  9. Jaspenelle on July 1, 2010 at 10:44 am

    This past weekend we spent the afternoon at a friends house. She grows both raspberries and strawberries but enjoys neither, we were more then happy to take them off her hands. Not that any of them made them home between me and my 2-year-old. Fresh berries, there is nothing better.

    I do have several cups of blueberries in my freeze from an earlier date though, I am saving them for a 4th of July pie.

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  10. Mija on July 1, 2010 at 10:44 am

    Yes! We have a few bushes on our property but we just recently found a bunch of huge black raspberry bushes at a park near our house…seems we’re the only ones around here who know what a treasure they are!

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  11. Mary W on July 1, 2010 at 11:20 am

    The black raspberries near the work plot came and went a few weeks ago–split between the gardeners and the birds. My neighbor is getting plenty now and has offered let me pick, but I’m afraid I’d go crazy and take too many.

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  12. warren on July 1, 2010 at 11:41 am

    Our raspberries have been going strong since the end of May and we are wearing out the wild blackberries right now! I love fresh berries!!!

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  13. Sue on July 1, 2010 at 12:52 pm

    I have several black raspberries bushes on the side of our yard… I would love to have more and maybe move them to a more sunny spot… do you have any thoughts / ideas on the best way to cultivate more from what we already have ? not sure how to propagate new patches from the ones we have.

    thanks,

    Reply to Sue's comment

    • Susy on July 1, 2010 at 1:02 pm

      They’ll pretty much propagate themselves. You’ll want to keep them pruned properly (prune off canes that produced berries this year). You’ll notice suckers coming up around the plants, usually with purple stems for black raspberries. You can try moving these, or you can simply let them be. My parents simply let theirs grow and spread at will.

      We’re trying to move a few around our gardens by digging up small suckers and transplanting them to areas of the garden we’d like to establish them in. Seems to be working so far.

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  14. Jane on July 1, 2010 at 8:24 pm

    Going Blueberry picking tomorrow morning, with my daughters!

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  15. MAYBELLINE on July 1, 2010 at 8:25 pm

    Still getting just a few strawberries but the heat is slowing production. It was a nice run from April through June.

    Reply to MAYBELLINE's comment

  16. mamaraby on July 2, 2010 at 3:10 pm

    Oh…I *love* black raspberries. We just got a few plants from my sister’s house, but since they’ve just been planted we’ll have to pick ours at their house this year. This requires loads of mosquito repellent. So much so that I’ve actually considered getting one of those mosquito net hood things.

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About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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