Blackberries

Photo by Jonathan Harvey 16-09-12

"Blackberry picking in West Cork"

Well despite my lamentations yesterday, the rain cleared away and the sun came out. So I was able to go on my blackberry quest. (Although, I didn't trust it enough to go without my waterproof!) At first, I feared I had missed the season, most of the blackberries along the coast road were withered and hard or else tiny and mangled by maggots. Further down the road, is a town land called  Farrandaw (or Farrandau, depending on who you are speaking to.) We hopped the gate into overgrown fields that run along the top of the cliffs and found that the crop was plentiful. The sun beat down on us, as we scampered through the twisted gorse and brambles, filling up our bags and staining our hands. I saw a splendid Dog Fox scurrying along the far edge of the field, obviously enjoying the change in the weather as much as we were. It was a beautiful, lazy afternoon and such a contrast to the hours I spend, poring over my computer screen, willing something exciting to happen on FB or frazzling my brain trying to write a new story. The only downside is my latent apprehension that there might be a bull in the field. The farmers here very rarely put "Beware of the Bull" signs on their gateposts - but that doesn't mean that there isn't some monstrous beast lurking in a corner ready to charge! Thankfully, there wasn't one and I could relax and greedily grab the luscious berries from their thorny stems! We managed to pick over two and a half pounds of them and they are now sitting in my newly cleaned fridge (I didn't get around to defrosting the freezer as well, I can't do it all!) and will be turned into jam later today.

It is dry today and I have to go to the old lady's garden again for a couple of hours this afternoon, so you can guarantee it will rain again then! The price to pay for living in West Cork!

Photo by Diana Morrison 16-09-12

"The Harvest"