Blackberry Way

 It's that season again. First one patch with special characteristics - maybe more exposure to sunshine, or perhaps slighlt different genetics - and those berries dark, shiney, invite a testing taste. A mental note to return with a box and a little more time for picking and saving.

But a week, ten days pass and the berries which were pristine and tasted so good have been attacked. The surrounding grass trampled by human feet, and the ripest fruits that are not picked are pecked by birds or else overblown and with little flavour.

But never mind because there are more and more. Over the days so many brambles present their fruit. A sequence of ripening which follows the same pattern each year. Always the berries close to the path are soon picked, but on the other side of the hedge, on the inside of the fields, behind the wall of nettles, there are more and more.

Always best 50-50 in the pie with apple?

And of course blackberries can prevent and maybe even cure cancer!