It is 11:45pm and we are having a major ice storm here!
We move to the farm when daddy was out of the navy and the first summer on the place daddy gathered lard buckets for me and Richard and we went blackberry picking with daddy. I learned fast that this was a job I liked, free food and a time to spend by my self and day dream
I went from one group of vines to the next and picked the vines clean but I soon learned you didn't want to pick blackberries with daddy. His method was always going to one group of vines to the next looking for the big berries.
I would find a patch and start picking and here would come my daddy saying have you found a good patch pat? He would get ahead of me and grab all the large berries and then leave me to pick the rest which I would do then I would fine another group of berries and here would come daddy again picking all the big berries and away he would go.
I picked blackberries every summer but I never picked berries with daddy again. I had learned my lesson. The next summer I would get up early and take off while daddy was busy with his chores and tell mama I was going berry picking and no matter had often and loud daddy call me I never answered him because I didn't want him picking all the good berries and leaving me to finish the patch and gather in the culls.
when I remember that first berry picking and knowing what a fun loving person daddy was I am sure he was laughing at me all day while he ran ahead of me picking the big berries and leaving the small berries for me.
My father was a fun loving person and he made life a joy for his children and he taught me the joy of work and the rewards of laboring in the hot sun for the blackberries.
We always ate our berries with good rich cream and sugar and mama canned the surplus for winter to make clobbers. Nothing taste better than blackberry clobber with good rich cream poured over the top.
6 comments:
Daddy always thought the best was yet to come. He what made him happy was his family. I never picked berries iwth Dad. He was too busy I guess by the time we came along. Aunt thelma told me about picking berries with her kids and saving the money and Tom Gwaltney stole their berry money.
It is 34 here so I will have to go to work. I hope I can get home before it all freezes.
Patsy, this got me to thinking about picking wild strawberries on that sloping hill below the pond. They were small but so good. Mom would make that pie crust stack squares to have with them plus that cream and sugar. I have never eaten anything as good my entire life.
Patsy, you are not the boss of me. I can go to work if I want to.
I guess Fleta stayed home...
I never did care for the blackberries and I still do not care for thick cream...I will eat it whipped but that is the only way. I did love the strawberries...they were easier to pick, no stickers and you could sit down to pick them....
Another wonderful family story. I didn't know anybody enjoyed picking berries. In Oregon blackberry vines are a menace. They're really hard to get rid of and they take over very quickly. There's always more than enough blackberry vines along the roads for free picking.
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