blackberry season

One of my favourite memories from my childhood is going out with my Mum and my sisters to pick blackberries. The streets where I live back onto a network of alleyways (and a canal) where wild blackberries grow free, and we would always come back loaded with fruit, which my mum would make into crumbles. Sadly, a lot of the bushes have been cut back, but whilst walking my dog last week I came across a few bushes with early fruit on, so I went back to pick some.

I got stung several times, and my hands were stained from all the juice, and I got a few odd looks as I foraged amongst the brambles, but it was a nice feeling seeing a bowlful of fruit I had picked myself (and for free!) My plan is to take some for my lunches, and to make the rest into a blackberry and apple crumble.