Emily came out this weekend, and we went back into the blackberries. This time I noticed another huge area of berries, so she and I climbed through the thick brush to get to them. We picked berries until we were dripping with sweat, and we had to go home for a drink. The dogs love blackberries, and they ate any low-hanging berries that they could find – which was a LOT. We barely made a dent in what was there, and we still left with over FIVE POUNDS of berries!!!

In the garden, we picked everything that we could. We have 6+ lbs of green beans and lots of cukes and squash. We took a bag of green beans over to our neighbor, Bob, and traded him for a dozen eggs from his chickens. Later, Bob showed up at our house with his van full (and full is not an exaggeration) of bread from the discount Wonder Bread store. Apparently his horses love bread, so he gets van-loads – LITERALLY – for them. He pawned off as much as he could on Steve, so our freezer is full of hamburger & hot dog buns, Texas Toast & sandwich bread.

We had our first attempt at making pickles yesterday. Emily has canned before, so she gave us some pointers. The recipe said to let them sit at least 24 hours before eating them, but I’m sure the longer they sit, the better they’ll be. We’ll probably try some in the next few days or next weekend.

I picked my one little red tomato, but I haven’t eaten it yet. We’re getting more and more green tomatoes, and it looks like a couple of our bigger green ones will be turning red soon.