Blackberries

As Jake and I walked on the river today I started to notice some red berries....as I looked closer I realized they were blackberries.  As I walk along thinking about them, it made me think of my childhood.....a VERY long time ago...LOL.  Anyway, as a child we always picked blackberries.  It was an ordeal because there were chiggers, ticks and thorns.  Mom would put sulfur in the cuffs of our pants to stop the ticks and chiggers and we had to wear long sleeves to protect from the thorns (which we somehow always still got all scratched up, then off we would go to the blackberry bushes which for some reason seemed to always be down at the tank or by the river.  We would eat and pick and pick and eat until we were miserable.  Back when I was a child there was not a worry about washing them before we ate them.  (Of course so many things were different then)  We just picked and ate, then took as many as possible home to mom.  There were so many ways we ate them, cobbler, with sugar and milk or in ice cream to name a few.

One of my favorite stories on my mom was when she didn't mash the blackberries before putting them in the homemade ice cream she was making. (BTW my Mom makes the very BEST home made ice cream)  Anyway, the ice cream looked so good and we were very excited......then when I took a bite it was like having ROCKS in the ice cream.  The blackberries froze SOLID....LOL  You had to let the ice cream melt so you could bite into the blackberries.

As we kept walking I came across this ripe blackberry.  It was the only ripe one I saw and I just didn't have the heart to pick it....

God's creations are so amazing and He has always provided.  I am sure at one time these were a food that was provided for someone who needed it and lived by only what they found.

Philippians 4:19 You can be sure that God will take care of everything you need, his generosity exceeding even yours in the glory that pours from Jesus. (The Message)

Below are a few other pictures I took along the way.