Getting my hands dirty

So, we live in the countryside, and that means the smell of cows, the sound of cockerels in the morning, and a veritable supermarket of goodies on our doorstep. Isabel and I went for a walk the other day and came back with enough blackberries and damsons to make a fruit salad - today, buoyed by our success, we undertook a family excursion to do some proper blackberrying.

Armed with ice cream tubs we set off, and managed to pick almost 2lb of blackberries. And here they are:

The picking was not without its pitfalls - namely thorns and stinging nettles. And the staining qualities of blackberry juice of course.

When we got home we got the breadmaker out, mashed the blackberries, added an unfeasibly large quantity of jam sugar, and after 1hr and 20 mins ended up with this.

The real test will come tomorrow - we'll see what it actually tastes like. And there are still some berries left for an apple and blackberry crumble tomorrow - made with apples from our garden.

This rural life could be fun. Although it was a tiring day for all concerned!