blackberry and apple

....now that's better.

At risk of sounding like my father, who always used to say, at the mere mention of 'curry'- that the only way to eat rice was in a pudding, with sugar and milk on - I now hear myself saying that the way to enjoy blackberries, is to pick them and put them in a pie with some apple!

that holds more promise of enjoyment for me, than 24 hr web connection, with intravenous texts and email alerts. (I'm afraid you'll have to read previous blog to see where I'm coming from here.)

Natalie our youngest, absolutely loves blackberry picking, and goes off on her own little foraging adventures around the house and garden - usually coming back with three or four squashy berries, which are handed over with the kind of expectation that you just can't ignore, "but I can't turn three berries into a pie Natalie," I try to explain. We usually end up washing them, dipping them into a generous dab of sugar, and eating them there and then.

Numerous animals have benefited from Natalie's enthusiasm for blackberries. The dog quite likes them, the hens seem to relish them, though they struggle to wipe the juice off their beaks, the sheep eat them without showing any appreciation at all, but the donkeys taste and savour them as the hedgerow delicacies that they really are.

When we pick together, we can usually half-fill a margarine tub - plenty for a blackberry and apple crumble, our personal family favourite. Natalie wants to try putting them in scones next. I'll let you know how we get on. www.dovefarm.co.uk