Wild foods & wine- Wild Blackberry edition*picture update

Mmmmm.....Blackberries. i may not like the seeds but i love the berry taste. What nature lover would not love a walk on a trail only to discover these? I never go trail walking without a basket to hold some form of treasure that we may discover. Today was no different except we brought 2 baskets and lots of skeeter spray. Of course the kids always have a hat with them to block the sun too. I rarely venture with out my camera either which is why today you get to see Lil' mans pictures he snapped while Panda & I picked Wild Blackberries! I was hoping to find some on a different trail then we normally walk & I did too! These were very big plump berries at that!
I grabbed a branch from a tree to hold back the brambles so as not to hook my skirt up on them. Animals must have bed down in the spot we are standing since it was fairly smooshed down when we got here but berries were still abundant. I knew venturing out on other trails would lead us to the berry bush's we have checked on since the spring so the above was a great surprise! We made our way over to the "special trail" to our secret berry patch-I would tell you more but then i would have to kill you... :)...
We discovered the brambles were covered in berries still and some were even over ripe to the point the were "drying out" in the sun on the bramble. Can you see me deep in the blackberry brambles? I think the blurriness of the pictures helps in the effect of our "secret spot"...
Hey you know you would protect your spots too knowing that others would destroy it in just a few visits! Did you know you should never crush down the brambles in trying to reach other berries? I use tree branches to move them over & do everything I can to make sure I do not crush any canes. I have done it in the past but am more knowledgable on the subject now. Keep hair covered and braided if you prefer not to get entangled. Also I was a bad example wearing that skirt! It was just too hot to wear my overalls walking down the trails but I should have brought them along to throw over my clothes once I was at the patch..
So todays harvest will be turned into a freshly discovered recipe for Blackberry coffee cake. It is easy to make and yes I have made it (but it was with berries from the store just in case my patch was discovered by others). I share the link to it since I rather you know who to credit the recipe to and they have lots of other tasty recipes too you may want to check out! So I am off to start mine now. Just an FYI, My berries were found in a state park with lots of woods and walking/riding trails. I know I have mentioned before checking on the berries progress & mentioned which park we went to. So those are the only clues I will give out on the patch's location! In Ohio, Picking berries, mushrooms and pinecones are legal as long as they are not done for commercial purposes or in a destructive manner to which prevents it's "comeback".
Tommorow's berry harvest will be a batch of more Blackberry wine which the new recipe using fresh wild blackberries and a different yeast will be shared in a later part of this edition. Dont forget to chime in here when you have discovered your very own secret (or other) patch. I would love to hear of your adventures braving the brambles and wilds of the woods to indulge in one of Mothers Nature's summer fruits!
~Tammie


*picture update* This is the Blackberry coffee cake made from our first wild harvest August09,2006. Instead of orange peel I used 1 tspn of orange extract and instead of margerine I used Olive oil. I added oats to the topping which I just love doing.... Sprinkled topping on the bottom of my springform pan then poured in batter- next I folded in the berries then added more topping. We served with fresh berries and 2 small scoops of icecream. So very good!!!