Fruits of the Labor

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to take a trip to my home town for a class reunion.  I flew into Salt Lake Cit early on a Friday morning.  All my friends were working so I had the whole day to myself. Since I don't get to see mountains in Oklahoma I choose to spend my down time hiking a mountain trail that I frequented growing up.  Getting out of the city and spending time in the quiet surroundings of nature was very therapeutic.  It was the most peaceful and stress free I had felt in a long time.

Mountain Hike

The following Friday I was back in Oklahoma.  I tried to get home a little early on Fridays because the back of our property was over grown with wild blackberries.  So I put on a generously amount of deet, grabbed a bucket, and got an early start on the weekend's chores.  

Wild Berries

There are a few berries that can be reached just past the back fence to our main pasture but you have to go to the back side of the patch to get the mother load of berries.  The back side is down in a gully that runs past the back fence of the pasture.  My kids call this spot The Cave because you have to climb down into it and once you are there you have foliage growing over you in all directions.  

The Cave

We put a fifteen foot ladder from the top bank to a fallen tree in the middle of the gully so that we can climb down.  The photo of The Cave shows the fallen tree in the top left corner of the photo.  The fallen tree is a few feet above the water that was running through the gully from this morning's down pour.  Sitting in the gully picking berries I thought to myself that the best part about having wild blackberries on our property is that they are the only thing that could get me to build a bridge across a ravine covered in thorns so I could climb down into it, because as I sat there I realized that I was in a spot as unique and remote as the mountain outlook that I hiked six miles to stand on in Utah. 

Lost in my own backyard.

 Without the blackberries I would have missed this perfect little moment. I felt as stress free and peaceful, in a part of our property that is seldom ever visited, as I did thousands of miles away on a mountain trail in Utah.  I don't think that sitting in the middle of a over grown gully would have been as peaceful without the beautiful berries against the bright colors of the plants that were cleaned and revitalized by the morning rain.  

Fruits of the labor

It is not easy work to collect wild black berries.  There are lots of thorns so if you don't have nimble fingers your hands will get filled with thorny slivers and your arms will be covered in scratches.  Still the fruits of the labor are sweet.   

How much did we get?

Last week I had J helping me and we got about two pounds of black berries.  Today I was working by myself so I didn't get quite as much but next time you are at the grocery store look at the price per pound for organic all natural blackberries and you will see why I am so happy to pick my own all summer.