No limit on nice grade of blacks today - the freezer's getting stocked! 8>}

If you know your berries you know the difference between wild blackberries and 'Himalayan' blackberries.  Wild come on earlier and are usually much smaller, but are tastier.  We covet the wild and disdain the Himalaya.  I was holding off on posting this little joke, but there is actually a very pertinent point I'll make:

- the wild blackberries usually come on right at the end of May, with the season going off in earnest in June and fading in July as the Himalaya's come on.  This year the wild berries were more than two weeks late.  This is different than I've ever seen.  I believe the environmental factors that lent to the berry season change may also be affecting the fish, as we've heard of the Alaskan and other salmon runs being late.  Time will tell.

When I pick along the road I feel a bit self-conscious, but wild blackberry jam and pies all Winter long is worth it!     I obsess on this almost as much as fishing - putting away a few gallons every early Summer.   

Very nice load of blacks!  I love fresh berries and love to make berry turn-overs with them when sweet.  I was not aware of the two different varieties, how else do you tell them appart?  Is there differnce in the foliage?

Norm

Definitely a foliage and thorn thing, Norm.  The wilds have a rougher leaf and lots of very small stickers as opposed to the Himalaya's which have a broader, smoother leaf and thorns like a rose.  The wilds also don't usually have very prolific fruiting vines, and the Him's have giant bunches of berries all over the place.  You could fill the giant cookie dough bowl with Him's in no time, but the wilds take a dedicated picker a long time to accumulate.  I come home juicy, scratched and smiling!   

Yep~
Blackberries have allowed me to fish a lot longer on many streams than I normally would in a day. I love taking a break next to a blackberry bush.
Even cooler is when you can pull your kayak along side of one and enjoy. Definitely possible as you paddle towards the Folsom Prison.

Love em' and pick em'&eat em' everywhere I go! I think I know the difference now..thanks BK (BerryKing)
....i was at FrankFishings' house a few weeks ago and he had a bush of the Clustered-Fat-Long&Yummy kind, it was hard to leave them.
 

Both of the places I've lived in Bonny Doon were blessed with big thick berry patches. My chore is always to train them into a maze for maximum picking efficiency. I've got a huge bunch of what must be Himalayas on the property now, but mostly they are rambling & wild. The trellis project started this spring but probably won't be complete until the ground softens up again in the winter.
The small wild blackberries & strawberries are like little bonuses when you are gardening. Nature's quick energy!

I want pics!   

Wilds have three leaves per leaf cluster and Hims have five.  The wild berry is much longer and skinnier than the Hims.  I dunno, I've got some good patches of Hims that are pretty tasty and you can load up fast.

My dog likes the fat Hims, but she'll only eat them if they're ripe.  She puts her mouth over them somehow to test for ripeness.  I kept getting slimy fingers when feeling the lower berries for ripeness and couldn't figure it out.  I finally realized the slime was dog slobber.........ewwww.

Wilds have three leaves per leaf cluster and Hims have five.  The wild berry is much longer and skinnier than the Hims.  I dunno, I've got some good patches of Hims that are pretty tasty and you can load up fast.

My dog likes the fat Hims, but she'll only eat them if they're ripe.  She puts her mouth over them somehow to test for ripeness.  I kept getting slimy fingers when feeling the lower berries for ripeness and couldn't figure it out.  I finally realized the slime was dog slobber.........ewwww.

    Great story, Dave!  Those berries were cleaner than your own mouth though!   

OMG-- my lab eats the dang things too!  Its hilarioius to see her nibble off the berries on the lower branches.

"blackberry"- pronounced "blaberwy" was my daughters fifth word (dada, mama, doggie, all done being the others).  I'm sure these things must be the himalayas- though there are a few bushes in our neighborhood that look "different" from the others. Either way- tasty!

we're lucky enough to live in a neighborhood that has a ton of fruit on our walk-- figs, blackberry, cherry, apricot, plum (2 kinds), orange, apple, lemons, lowquats, oranges.  My daughter loves to eat stuff we get to pick...and at 18months now knows a ripe blaberwy from a yucky one.

Thanks for the info on the season and the different types of black berries, this will definetly earn some GAF points even if not til next season,,,,,

My son's very early vocab included   "a-boney"   I'm pretty sure you can guess that one.

dale

When I was a kid, my dog would eat raspberries from the garden. After he ate one with a bee on it, he never did it again.

 

You got me for sure!  I am going for a limit of "blues" this weekend.

we're lucky enough to live in a neighborhood that has a ton of fruit on our walk-- figs, blackberry, cherry, apricot, plum (2 kinds), orange, apple, lemons, lowquats, oranges. 

When we go out on the American River my GF and I usually end up picking the figs off the over hanging trees.....The are extremely good. I also love the wild blackberries with some vanilla bean ice cream.  . I also probably look pretty okie stopping on the side of highway 1 picking the black berries, but they are sooo good. I guess its the early home training with my sister and I picking them growing up that contributed to it.

I love this site............a brotherhood of "hunters and gatherers".  You can usually see us on the side of a road picking berries as well. In the fall we can be spotted on ladders in mall parking lots picking olives. It's funny how many people will stop and ask how much we would charge to get rid of their messy olives off  there trees at home. You gotta love it.