Now that blackberry season is nearly over and I started this post about three weeks ago.....
1. If at all possible, take your vehicle with you and get as close to the berries as you can rather than thinking it'd be fun to just trek the 1/4 or 1/2 mile from your house that the patch is at. You can easily tote all your essentials and non-essentials if you take the car. And if you don't have a car that will reach that backwoods berry patch, well, get a Land Rover. :) Plus, all the little legs with you will thank you.
2. When picking berries with small children, just don't set your expectations high before you even leave the house. Know that you might not get more than a couple cups of berries and get out there and enjoy yourself anyway. Inevitably, someone will get fussy so you'll need to head home, or you won't be able to reach the ones you see that are REALLY nice because you've got Junior on your back and you don't want to scratch them with thorns, or you just won't find berries. So head out not expecting anything and you'll be pleasantly surprised at what you come home with no matter what the amount!
3. If you're in a vehicle so paraphernalia is no issue, take all the containers you could ever imagine you might possibly need and then take a couple more. You'll probably only get 2 cups, but what if you hit the jack pot, the kids are amazing, the clouds are keeping you cool, and you just don't have enough containers!?! What a tragedy! So take some extras. If your containers are the same size, you can stack them in each other and carry several if you're going out on foot. I like lightweight plastic containers like cool whip bowls, butter tubs, or ice cream buckets. Baskets and the like are all pretty and romantic, but plastic containers are ideal.
4. While we're on the subject of containers, kids love to have their own containers to hold. However, take little containers for the kids. Containers that hold 2-4 cups are ideal for so many reasons. First of all, they're easier and lightweight. Secondly, a small child gets very discouraged when they pick for 1/2 hour and the bottom of their bucket isn't even covered. But when their container is half way full, they're ecstatic and want to pick more! Also, kids will inevitably spill their berries. So if they don't have much, they won't lose much, nor will it take them long to pick them up! Katie and Alan are always wanting to combine their berries with mine and that's always fine with me! Those hard earned berries are a little safer in my bucket anyway.
5. I don't think I could possibly remind the kids enough: WATCH FOR SNAKES! I don't know, I could be totally wrong, but I just assume that blackberry thickets are a prime hangout for snakes. Hanging out on a sunny hillside and eating overripe berries off the ground sounds like the life to me if I were a snake (make snakes are completely carnivorous? I don't know) But usually if you're getting some good berries, you have to wade into thick vines or grass, jump roadside ditches etc., and snakes are surely in the vicinity. So I always tell the kids WATCH WHERE YOU PUT YOUR FOOT! and MAKE NOISE WITH YOUR FEET (they sense vibration really well) and I ask them oh, about every three minutes, ARE YOU WATCHING FOR SNAKES?
Also, I've never had to use it, but I take a snake bite kit with me when we head out. They're available at sporting goods stores and most outdoor/camping supply sections, and they're small enough to stick in your pocket. I just can't think of anything much more helpless feeling than being in the woods when someone just got bit by a copperhead and I have to haul him and everyone else out before I can even tend to the bite. So, a snake bite kit is well worth the money--and know how to use it!
(now weeks and weeks after I started this post)
Bottom line, folks, enjoy picking and enjoy eating those berries. I had more I was gonna say, but the inspiration has left me on this post. I've tried writing it no less than 8 times, so I'm gettin' a little burned out on this one. Happy berry picking whether it's strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, or anywhere in between!
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