This is the first in what will become a series about how Mushroom and I make the most of our green (and not so green!) spaces in the city to interact with nature. I thought I’d start with something seasonal so first up is a post about blackberry picking!
Not far from where we live, there’s a recently renovated park, imaginatively named ‘jubilee gardens’ (no, it’s not the one at the South Bank and yes, I am being a little sarcastic). It’s a lovely park that has been created with an emphasis on making the most of the natural space it occupies. Sort of. But that’s for another post. The reason I mention it here is because you can either walk to it via the main road, passing the usual bus stops and shops on the way, or you can take the back streets…
One of these back streets leads to a wide open field that houses a disused Scout hut. It’s not a route I’d take during the winter months when it’s dark and not many people are using it for safety reasons but during the summer Mushroom and I almost always go this way.
After a short walk past the hut, there is a bit of a path that leads over a river with just a little “dirty water,” (according to Mushroom) and loads of wild flowers. On the corner, just before the river, there is a massive blackberry bush.
It’s massive. MASSIVE. It goes right round the coner and this photo really doesn’t do it justice
Mushroom and I have been passing this blackberry bush for a while and I explained to him that you can eat the little red berries but that they “are not ready yet.” I told him they would be black when they are ready. This week, I packed a tupperware container without telling him and said we were going for a walk. When we reached the bush he pointed to the bush and said “Mummy? Not ready yet.” I said “Yes, they are ready and we can eat them!” I was rewarded with a massive grin, followed by a look that clearly said “are you sure?” I picked and ate one to show him it was safe and gave him one to try. A slow smile spread across his face as the juicy fruit burst between his teeth and he showed me his berry stained gums. I the got out the container and said we would pick some to take home and he was very excited. It wasn’t long before he was covered in sticky blackberry juice!
Mushroom eats all the ones he picks and then makes quick work of the ones I was saving!
After about 15 minutes he got fed up so we headed over the river to the park. He kept stopping along the way to pick blackberries from the smaller bushes we saw on our walk and once we reached the park I overheard him saying to another child “berries ready,” as though he was delivering world news. He kept asking for more on the way home so I never got to make the crumble I’d planned as there wasn’t enough left! However, I’m sure we’ll go blackberry picking again before the end of this month so there’s still time.
I’m linking up with Coombe Mill‘s Country Kids blog linky with this series. To find out more and/or add your own, click on the image below:
Aw, that’s lovely! One of the things we liked to do as children was ‘brambling’ – I didn’t know that brambles were actually blackberries until I was an adult – we lived in the inner-city where the only green space was old bombsites from WWII, and we went around the lane at the back of one of the nearby scrapyards and used to pick literally hundreds of them. I have no idea what we did with them as my mum wasn’t a manic baker, but I sure remember collecting them. We do the same now with our children.
…and I didn’t know that blackberries were known as brambles until now! My mum wasn’t a manic baker either, I know we did have crumble though! Now you’ve got me wondering whether it was Mum we made it with or a friend/relative. She definitely did blackberry picking with us though, and strawberries! I don’t even remember getting any strawberries home though – we had to drive somewhere for that and we ate them all on the journey… Ahhh, my fruit picking memories are all flooding back now 🙂
Half of the fun in the picking the fruit is eating it! I love the fact that he ate so much that you didn’t have any left for the crumble. A lovely way to spend a few hours, fruit picking, a lovely walk and a playground at the end. Thanks for linking up and sharing your outdoor adventures with Country Kids.
Oh it was lovely, I must blog about that playground too – in time! I will be linking up again with this series of posts so see you there! 🙂
Isn’t berry picking just brilliant fun, your trip ended up like mine, crumbleless! My berries got well and truly eaten before we got home too.
It was so much fun, made me think how unfortunate it is that I hadn’t bothered to do it between childhood and when I took Mushroom! You’re never too old to enjoy blackberry picking!
Haha, this is exactly what happened with us. Never got to make pie as all the blackberries got eaten!
Isn’t that always the way? I remember having to restrain myself even as an older child when I knew the crumble was worth the wait!