The black raspberries are starting to ripen!

[hippywife]

I'm so excited! There are going to be tons of them!

The strawberries are about played out but they have been so sweet. We've eaten them all instead of preserving any of them. Couldn't help it! LOL

And I just found out that one of our local coop producers has apricots grown without the use of pesticides!

Preserves are coming soon! :bounce:

[awoke_in_2003]

1. never had black raspberries...

maybe I should come over and assist :hi:

[hippywife]

3. I was wrong.

They are blackberries, not black raspberries. Sigh. :eyes:

[awoke_in_2003]

5. Ooh, even better. nt

[FedUpWithIt All]

2. What area or zone are you if you don't mind me asking?

And a hearty :hi:

It is difficult to walk 3 feet on our land without coming upon a raspberry plant. But i am not sure when we should try and get in there so we can harvest before the birds do.

[hippywife]

4. They are really blackberries. I was wrong.

We are in a zone 7 in Oklahoma.

And a hearty :hi: back to you. I was just wondering the other day how you were getting along. You have to tell me what all has been going on. :hug:

[bvar22]

6. Damn....and I was all excited about Black Raspberries.

After a beautiful Spring where the Black Berries put on an unbelievable Flower Show and early fruit, the lack of any real rain and unseasonably high heat over the last month has caused most of them to dry up. They could still be salvaged if we started getting some rain, but I don't see any in the forecast.

We have started watering a couple of Blackberry thickets behind our cabin, so we will get some, but not the Bumper Crop we were anticipating.

We have some Cultivated Red Raspberry plants that are doing OK, but only remind me of those tart, bright red Raspberries we used to pick in Minnesota.

We were going to plant some Dorman Red Raspberries this year, but they were out by the time we wanted to order them. They are supposed to thrive in the heat and humidity of The South.

There is a little town to the East of us, Mt Ida, that claims to have a heritage of Wild Raspberries, but I bet that if I go over there and investigate, they will be Blackberries.
As someone who was raised in The South who spent most of his time running around The Swamps and Woods, I can't ever remember finding a wild Raspberry until I went to Minnesota.

I have never tasted a "Black Raspberry" , and I am interested.
We did go to a "Pick Your Own" Berry Farm that had some Cultivated thornless Blackberries that LOOKED beautiful...juicy and as big as my thumb, but they tasted awful.

If I can stand the heat today (heat index over 105), I'm planning to go pick enough wild Blackberries to make some Jam. We have some down the hill that have ripened, but nothing like I was anticipating.

[FedUpWithIt All]

7. Hello Hippywife. Happy Summer Solstice!!!

We are doing really well. We are really enjoying life. I hope your own summer is going brilliantly so far. :hug:



The chicken plans have gone really well. We now have 3 young buff orp pullets sleeping in the new coop and an adult RIR giving us an egg everyday without fail. We are all really smitten with them.
Who knew chickens can be so damned entertaining. When we are not watching them we have been filling up our time with building things. We have already done the coop, a tractor, bat houses, several bird houses, the rotating composter and some shelves. Next up, a goat shelter, some mason bee houses, a top bar hive and a homemade bio-pod. Any large building projects are on hold for now.

This year we pulled out our old pots and went back to container gardening for the summer. It gives us a lot more flexibility, which is good right now. We have tomatoes, pickling cukes, green bell peppers, strawberries, lettuce and herbs filling up the deck. I miss our old raised beds but we just didn't get things started early enough. Everything is really healthy and we're looking forward to some veggies soon.

We are going out to pick berries in the morning. Hopefully tomorrow evening we'll be canning some. I haven't picked raspberries since i was a little girl. I am actually really excited.

How is all with you?