Foraging for free food is fun!

I'm not working much this summer, 20 hours a week maybe. It's a major strain on our finances, but, I've gotta admit, it's pretty great to have this much free time in the summertime. I've been trying to "carpe the diem" and have lots of (free) fun. It's been ridiculously hot lately, so I've mostly been basking in the glory that is our central air conditioning and reading piles of books. But today, finally, the temperature relaxed back to the 80s where it belongs so I ventured outside again.

And came home with free food, because it's blackberry season! In Oregon, blackberries are notorious. They are the #1 most invasive species in the state, the absolute bane of gardeners because they take over everything and are a nightmare to get rid of without serious chemical intervention. Blackberry bushes grow along every single roadside, and are so omnipresent that Oregonians seem to forget that, for a few weeks in the summer, these pests bear delicious fruit.

Our apartment complex overlooks an undeveloped hillside, with a gravel path between the buildings and the woods. The complex is huge, so this path's a good half-mile long, and every inch of it is bordered by blackberry bushes. I picked about 4 cups, and could have picked 4 times that many so I'm definitely going back again tomorrow (and the next day, and the next day...)

Does anybody have good blackberry recipes? I had so much fun today, I have a feeling I'll have a freezer full in a few weeks!

I'd forgotten how much fun it is to pick berries, and it just made me fall in love with Oregon all over again. Any place where I can pick wild berries in my own backyard without worrying about getting Lyme disease again is the place for me!