Blackberry Picking Visit

The past few months have been very busy with the end of school, but we made sure to make it to the farm to pick some yummy blackberries. It was a short and sweet visit (only 24 hours), but a good reminder that quick visits can still be full of adventure and memory making.

On the way to the farm, we stopped by Jimmy’s coffee shop. It was beautiful, and the girls were very impressed with the kid friendly options. The cinnamon rolls were delicious, and I enjoyed an excellent cup of hot tea. As you can see, Marjorie is in the middle of her balletleisure phase, and prefers to not wear actual clothes.

I snapped a picture of Saturday Snacks because I love it so much. Perhaps we could move it to sit by the bluff house?

The girls were very eager to begin picking blackberries, and immediately suited up in boots to wade through the briars. Grandpa recommended we start picking across the road from the gate, so that is where we went.

We found some good ones, and Vivi was the most fearless, walking farther out into the trees and briars than everyone else.

Marjorie was not having it, and as she was inappropriately dressed for a romp through the briars in her balletleisure, she stayed perched on the beast and watched from afar, happy to sample as many berries as her big sisters would allow her to have.

We picked as many as we dared (the bushes were very thick and tall with lots of briars, and we didn’t want to encounter any snakes), so we decided to check out the field where JeeJee had lots of luck. On the way, we found some honeysuckle, which the girls were very excited to pick.

The entire field next to the dirt road entrance was completely full of blackberries. We followed JeeJee’s recommendation, and just drove through them in the beast, picking them where we sat. It was hard to stop because there were so many!

We had lots of blackberries - enough to make a cobbler, and it was time to go pick up Chip to get supper at the Pizza Place, but we discovered one of the Beasts was very quickly running out of battery. We couldn’t make it up the hill or across the field, and got stuck in the woods.

Thankfully, Grandpa rescued us in no time, and we were able to get supper. The girls were all very happy to play arcade games at the Pizza Place and fill up on pizza before going to bed at the Bluff House. We had planned to make blackberry cobbler, but it ended up being a late night, so we saved that project for when we got to Albany.

Sunday morning was perfectly overcast and slightly cool, which was an unexpected treat for June. We started the morning with some rope swinging.

The girls wanted to ride boats in the pond, and on our way to the boathouse, we found this cute little turtle. Brigette was very excited to check it out, and decided we shouldn’t move or disturb her.

When we got to the boathouse, we wiped down the paddle boat and the gheenoe.

Chip took Marjorie and Ellie out in the gheenoe, and Vivi, Brigette, and Eliana did a little trip around the pond in the paddleboat, and then everyone did some switching around. The clouds made for such a nice morning, and it didn’t get too hot. The little girls also had fun overfeeding the fish.

We had a great visit, and we wish we could have stayed longer, but we had a lot of fun doing everything we could! The blackberries were so yummy, and made a fantastic cobbler. We can’t wait to return!