The reason we have not posted anything on our blog for a while is that the blackberries have ripened. We picked nearly 900 pounds of berries in the last week and the only reason we did not reach the 1000 pound goal is that we got rained out today. We made it through 11 of our 13 rows one time so far. That means we have two rows to go and then we will start over for the second picking.
So what do we do with all these berries? The perfect ones get picked into quart or pint containers, which we sell at the produce stand, via Craig’s List and at two local produce auctions. We had flats of pints at the auction on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Each flat hold 12 pints, and this past week we took 648 pints to auction!
The imperfect berries get sorted out, washed, drained and frozen. Freezing the berries ruptures the cell membranes of the fruit and more juice can be extracted. We will use these frozen berries for jelly and wine later.
Leif (who is visiting with Anja this week) LOVES berries and is a real helper. He knows how to pick just the ripe berries, and though he loves to eat them, he picks them and puts them in boxes, just like the rest of us!
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