Hiking for Blackberries

Lately, real life has been taking up more of my time than usual. Because of this, I had to take a short break from publishing the Blogosphere Magazine, since the preparation of one issue takes about 4-5 hours.

However, I manage to find time to get out into nature and collect its gifts. Recently we could go for mushrooms, but now they have disappeared again from the surrounding forests. However, there is an opportunity to collect a wonderful and tasty berry - blackberry.

Of course, it is much easier to buy blackberries in a store. But forest blackberries are always different from those bought or grown in the garden. Blackberry, collected in the forest, is smaller in size, but much more fragrant. If you taste purchased blackberries or those grown in the garden and immediately compare them with blackberries collected in the forest, the difference is obvious. Wild blackberry is much tastier.

I usually go to pick blackberries in the forests of the Ukrainian Carpathians. But this time I ventured much closer, into the forest on the plain at the foot of the mountains. I had accurate information that you could gather enough blackberries there.

I set out as soon as it began to dawn. The journey by car took no more than 45 minutes. I stopped near the forest itself. After closing the car and taking everything I needed, I was already in the forest.

It was my first time in this area, so I didn't know exactly where to go. I had to orient myself, relying on my own experience of past hikes. This did not give the result I expected. The first thing I found were bushes with unripe blackberries.

Most likely, someone has already been here before me and collected ripe berries. Then I decided to go into the thick of the forest, where fewer people would dare to go. As a result, I wandered into the sleepy thickets. Time passed, it was getting hot, and my buckets were empty.

In the end, luck smiled on me. I got on quite thick blackberry bushes.

I must mention that I have not been able to find a very good place rich in ripe blackberries. Some of the berries were red, some of the bushes had no berries at all. Therefore, it took me much more time to collect blackberries than I expected. But the result was rather modest.

Then I noticed another small clearing. I went there and saw more of this:

I quickly collected two five-liter buckets of blackberries and hurried home. It seems that this time is not the time for records.

This is what my catch looks like today:

By the time the buckets arrived, they were not so full. The blackberry settled a little.

If you look closely, you can see that not all the berries have ripened well. Most of them are not completely black, but have a slight pink tint.

Why do I need so many blackberries, you ask? I don't necessarily need it. But since I had the opportunity to collect blackberries, I will be able, firstly, to give the child fresh vitamins to eat, and secondly, to prepare tasty and healthy juice or jam. There are many possibilities.

Do you go to the forest to collect something?