Berries!

I'm back and blogging again! Happy day! My main computer is on again- and it will stay that way until I'm convinced that I won't find it in that dead and lifeless state anytime soon.

Big news at my house- the blackberries are finally ripening! It's going to be a banner blackberry year with more berries than we've ever had before. I picked at least a quart this morning and that's just scratching the surface.

We brought the blackberry plant back with us from a family trip to Washington state in 1999. It has a tendency to sprawl all over the place and send up shoots in random places. I cut it back brutally in the spring and I guess that was what it was waiting for. Occasionally (rarely, in my world!) a vicious pruning can be a good thing. :)

So, what to do with the bumper crop? I will freeze, then juice a bunch to make grape/blackberry jelly for neighbor gifts at Christmastime. I'll make blackberry muffins and peach/blackberry cobbler. I'll search the web for a blueberry vinaigrette, because that sounds kind of good.

What else should I do with these blackberries? Ideas would be appreciated.