Fun in the Summertime!

I've got to admit that, even though I don't like the cold very much, I have really been feelin' the heat lately! I guess a lot of that has to do with the fact that I'm not nearly as young as I used to be (watch it!) nor am I as slim and trim as I used to be! Keeping those two undeniable truths in mind, I took two of my girls to pick blackberries last night. What a hoot!

Have you ever picked blackberries? If you have, you know that the bushes grow low to the ground and climb out around the plant. They have tiny and very sharp stickers and you WILL get stuck if you try to pick a berry — that is not a maybe — that is a fact!

We drove to the farm armed with our berry-picking gloves and plenty of tubs for our booty. The sun was beginning to set so it wasn't nearly as hot as I imagined it would be and we even had a little breeze to cool us as we picked. All three of us got our fair share of scratches and prickers on the forearms but we came away with an amazing amount of sweet, juicy berries — a wonderful reward for our hard work. We also came away with a renewed respect for huge bullfrogs and water moccasins. There was a large pond only feet away from our picking area and it teemed with the loudest frogs and the creepiest snakes the two of those girls had ever seen. In fact, the size of the swimming snake actually put a little damper on the remainder of our picking and we decided to call it quits. The girls had become a little "snake shy" as they imagined something down in every patch of weeds or clump of berries and it was funny to hear them shrieking and yelling everytime something moved in the grass or a bug flew by their heads.

I got a big kick out of watching those girls but the thing I most enjoyed was the time spent together with them. Because we were without children (thanks dads, for watching the boys!), we had the opportunity to talk about all sorts of things that we most usually aren't able to talk about. Topics like God's grace and goodness, the cost of things today, where the orchard will be planted and how we can't wait to get started on a new beginning were just a few of the things we seemed to cover, all three of us just enjoying the time and the company. I look so forward to doing even more of that this summer and fall.

Long ago as a young woman, I had someone admonish me to "spend the time wisely, as if the hours were dollars" and I must admit, I have forgotten to do that enough but, thinking back to last night, I believe I was blessed to "spend" a little of that time with my girls. Enjoy the recipe below. Greta has already made one of these pies and she tells me it's "yummy". If you need some blackberries, just give me a call. We'll go pick some anytime you're ready!
Ain't God good!

The Coffee Shop's Blackberry Pie
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2 quarts blackberries
3 cups sugar
1 pastry crust, plus more for lattice
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover the berries with the sugar in a bowl and let stand for a short time. Transfer them to a pot and heat over low flame for arond 20 to 30 minutes until they're cooked.

Line a pie plate with your favorite crust and lightly sprinkle the flour on the bottom. Pour cooked blackberries into the pie shell and dot with the butter. Cover the top with strips of pastry in a criss-cross pattern.

Bake for 25-30 minutes and enjoy!