nature's gift

Picking blackberries was always a pretty big part of every summer growing up here in Oregon. We gleaned nature's bounty, then canned the berries plain and as syrup. The plain berries would go into cobblers and pies throughout the year. The syrup was used on pancakes, over icecream, or as flavoring for homemade yogurt.

I would like to say I keep up these traditions, but in reality it has degenerated to a few quarts frozen each year, lots of smoothies and a couple of cobblers when they are in season.

This year we nearly missed it all together. The cool summer, recent rains, and lateness in the season made for slim pickings tonight. But of course we (I mean Mike) made grandma's cobbler.





I know these traditions are worth keeping alive, and I do try. But I am clearly not the pioneer woman my mother was. Whenever I do manage to bottle anything, it seems too precious to eat. And many of the things I freeze don't fulfill their imagined purpose of becoming fabulous pies, etc.

I guess I just want to do these things enough to remember how, and hopefully pass down the knowledge to my kids. If they want it.

GRANDMA'S BLACKBERRY COBBLER
Heat the oven to 425
Melt one cube of butter in a 9x13 pan
In a blender, mix the following:
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 t. salt
1 T. baking powder
Pour mixture over bubbly butter.
Top with one quart of blackberries.
Bake 20 minutes.
Serve with ice cream (duh).

If you want it this season, you'd better hurry!