It’s Berry Delicious

The Hired Hand and I went berry picking on Saturday morning before the heat had a chance of steaming up. Let me just start out by saying I’m going to stand on my soap box and rant for a few minutes to you city folk!

We went over to a U-Pick farm that’s pretty close to our home. I’ve been going to this farm for a VERY long time….probably since The Farmer’s Daughter was in 1st grade. And that’s been….let’s see….21 years ago!!!! This farm has grown ginormously!  And so has the clientele.

We arrived just about opening time and by the looks of the cars soaring down the dirt lanes to the blueberry field you’d of thought it was the Indie 500 OR that fruit was FREE today!

So here’s my rant…..

IF you city folk can’t leave your pent up aggression at home from your high stressed 9-5 jobs of racing to the city for work everyday when you come out to our neck of the woods…..then please don’t come! We like our low stress life styles. We don’t really like it when you come and bring your stress with you and dump it on us! Trust me when I tell you that there are enough blueberries to go around!

Ok…that made me feel a tad better….

 

S-L-O-W  D-O-W-N!

Alright back to my story….It was the very first time E V E R that The Hired Hand has gone berry picking with me! It was really his choice…not that he had much of one….you see, since he was the one driving “my” van when the deer plowed into him and side swiped him….well, he felt obligated to take me in his dilapidated truck! I returned the rental since I never go anywhere and it was costing us a arm and a leg….and I don’t have any extra arms to give away!

So we drove over in the old truck looking like a bunch of Hill Billies! Ya see the bed on the back is actually tilted to one side….looking like it’s about ready to fall off….because it is! And from a few looks that those high falutin city folk gave us….you’d a thought we were!!!! If only they knew that “my” van is a goat mobile!!!!  Now that’s what I call a true Hill Billie!!!

We picked 9# of Sweet Cherries that I haven’t decided what to do with yet….The Farmer’s Daughter and I have just been eating them by the handfulls….YUM!

We also picked 12# of Black Raspberries. I told The Hired Hand that we’d only be an hour or so….well, after 1.5 hours at the Black Raspberries we headed over to the Cherry trees then we were on our way home! Picking Black Raspberries is very time consuming!  Very!

The only thing The Hired Hand wanted out of the deal was a cobbler! Not a bad trade off for his labor!!! I really had fun picking with my best friend in all the world….I said to him in my little sing songy voice, ”this is what we get to do when you retire! Pick berries together.” He wasn’t impressed!

We’re all convinced that once The Hired Hand retires he will sleep for a week before he does anything! Poor guy is run raged and so tired and SOOO stressed out. They expect perfection from him at his high stressed day job and when you do that to a perfectionist….well, you can never be 100% perfect, but he nearly kills himself trying.

We always say, “Welcome to the rat race, where the rats just keep getting bigger.” That’s life around the DC metro area! H-A-T-E  IT!

Anyway…..back to the cobbler.

It ozzed and goozed all over the place. It was a beautifully yummy mess….except for the seeds….which I just swallowed! No need to break any teeth over a raspberry seed!

The only redeeming qualities are the oats and berries! AND lard!!! That’s it. Otherwise it’s just a really delicious dessert!

Since being diagnosed with food allergies to milk and eggs I had to switch to a different recipe which I really like…although once you learn to love egg and milk…..it’s REALLY hard giving them up for EVER! But since my health has improved tremendously, well…..it’s a good trade off.

The next time I make this recipe I’m going to shake it up a bit with some spices in the topping….a little cinnamon and nutmeg…just a little nutmeg…it can be very over powering.

Here’s the recipe in it’s VERY unscientific form:

Berry Cobbler

Fill the bottom of a dish with a generous amount of berries or fruit (I’ve used 8×8 however larger would work for the amount of topping)

Depending on the fruit and it’s natural sweetness, stir 1/2 to 1 Cup of sugar over it, grate 1 orange zest, and stir in 2-4 Tbsp of flour depending on the juiciness of the fruit.

Stir well and set aside while mixing topping. If it’s too juicy then add a few more Tbsp of flour.

In a separate bowl, add 1 C flour (whole wheat or white), 1 and 1/2 C sugar (unrefined or refined or whatever sweetener you desire, but if  it’s a liquid sweetener then you may need a tad more flour), 1/2 tsp salt, 1 C quick oats and 1/2 # of butter or lard (I use lard due to my dairy allergy). Using a pastry knife mix till crumbly. Then lay on top of fruit.

Cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until top is brown and crisp in a 350* oven.

I think it would be really yummy topped with some heavy raw cream!

That’s it. Pretty simple and so good!

I just froze the remainder of berries…I didn’t have the energy to make jam, nor did I have the desire to use all the berries in jam. So I put 6 full quarts of Black Raspberries away in the freezer for some winter cobblers or smoothies or jam. We still have 6 quarts of Red Raspberries from my picking last year, so no need to do any more berry picking for our stocking up.

I am trying to get away from freezing so much this year, with our calf going to the freezer soon and 30-50 meat birds being stocked away. Plus if the electric every goes off….well….I’ve got a big mess on my hands!!! I can pull those berries out and can them later if I decide to…but for now, they are in the freezer where they are safe and sound.

I’ve joined in the Homestead Barn Hop with this post. Check out the other great stories.