The blog of photographer Kim Ayres

A Bumper Crop

The brambling was good this weekend.

Rogan, Meg & I went on one of our most successful bramble hunts ever. The briars were laden with thick, juicy, ripe, tasty brambles within easy reach. Between us we managed to pick over 5lbs of them in less than an hour and a half and were rewarded by one of Maggie's divine Bramble Crumbles and the promise of bramble ice-cream this Xmas as we froze the rest.

And this year we were even able to use the ones Meg picked, although she has yet to learn you shouldn’t rub your face when your hands are covered in purple juice…


Meg managed to get nearly as many in the tub as she did in her belly and over her face and clothing...

34 comments

Unknown said...

She may be bramble stained, but I bet she had fun :-) Of course Maggie may not enjoy washing it out of her clothes quite as much LOL

Archivalist said...

If you don't get as much on you as you get in your basket, then you're not really trying.

fatmammycat said...

Clearly that child knows what is important. Cute photo.

Unknown said...

My mouth is watering. I may have to go buy some blackberries, as St. Louis has little to offer in the way of wild berries, and follow Maggie's recipe.

Kim Ayres said...

Kate - Meg loved it, however, I think blackberries were one of the sources of ancient dyes

Archivalist - old clothes are called for, that's for certain.

FMC - wise beyond her years

Carole - mixing them with apples for a bramble & apple crumble makes them go further

Kanani said...

How I miss berries growing on the roadside! Or even in my backyard!

Enjoy... just hearing about it makes my mouth water!

stinkypaw said...

Too cute! It just goes to prove how much she enjoyed her bramble hunt!

Going to give that recipe a try... Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

I want to go bramble picking!!

Jeff said...

Looks like good fun to me and the Crumble sounds wonderful.

Peace

ArleneWKW said...

I never heard of brambles, but I'm guessing that they are good. I'm glad that's bramble juice on Meg's face. I first glanced quickly at the photo and thought that she might have gotten badly scratched by bramble thorns.

BStrong said...

Reminds me of the time we went strawberry picking. Just thinking back of how sticky we were after the berry war broke out sends chills up my spine.

Keep up the tradition Meg. I believe you had a similar picture last year.

Archie said...

Great photo! My first glance had me thinking Meg was taking on the role of 'self-advocate' and kicked the cr@p out of someone.
Sounds like a great time; brings me back to late summers in New Hampshire as a kid, with fields of berries for the picking.

Anonymous said...

It looks like she had a blast!

redhead83402 said...

reminds me of so many family outings we have had ~ how can you tell the kids have had a jolly fine time? ~ easy, you can see it on their faces! ;-D
~Red

jotcr2 said...

Go Meg.

Mary Witzl said...

I swear I did not look at this before writing my post today! We went bramble picking two days ago and came back with very similar results. I always tell the kids to wear black clothes when we go berry picking. But then my two are real slobs with spaghetti as well...

Unknown said...

They finally ripened up here with the good weather over the last week. Yum!

Unknown said...

ps... Bramblings of the bearded one!

Anonymous said...

You've reminded me of my great-grandmother's blueberry pies. She would pick wild blueberries in the morning and put up homemade pie filling in the afternoon. There was nothing better at Christmas than a blueberry pie that tasted like they had just been picked that morning.

ADW said...

I am going to start calling them brambles now and watch people over here scratch their heads. That is a cute picture.

Kim Ayres said...

Kanani - I was always taught not to pick berries too near the road - partly for safety reasons, but partly because of exhaust pollution

Stinkypaw - it's a great recipe :)

Restaurant Gal - you'll need to time your visit to Scotland for the 1st & 2nd weeks of September

Jeff - I'm sure Nash would have a great time :)

Arlene - I grew up calling the plant "brambles" and the fruit, "Blackberries", but when I came to Scotland I discovered they called the fruit "brambles" and the plant "briars". So since my kids were old enough to walk I've been taking them on "bramble hunts" each autumn

Bstrong - the picture you're referring to was actually from 2 years ago

Archie - it stirs the ancient hunter-gather instinct in me

Rebecca - she loves it

Red - superb :)

Jo - :)

Mary - I love being able to go out gathering your own food for free in this day and age of pre-packed supermarket shopping

Conan Drumm - love it - have changed the blog title for the next day or 2 in honour :)

Julie - sounds divine :)

ADW - :)

Sayre said...

But for the fact that Meg is a little girl, that could be a picture of my son after blueberry picking...

Pat said...

What a sweet smile.
Tell Meg when we used to pick winbries as children we always ended up with navy blue teeth.
And I love her glasses - very chic!

Unknown said...

What beautiful bramble stains....and that is the best part...eating them whilst you are picking.

We had lots and lots of raspberries this summer....most ended up in bellies...a few in treats.

Dr Maroon said...

You've been following me all over the place.
DON'T DENY IT.

Nice picture.
Brambles are worth the scratches and they keep you regular. Like the first woodsmoke you smell on the damper evenings, they (brambles)are a sign of approaching autumn, and as such I don't want to talk about them.
Did you pose that photo? Do they count towards your five a day if they're in a crumble?

Kim Ayres said...

Sayre - just let him grow his hair longer and we'll pass them off as twins...

Pat - NHS glasses have come a long way since the days of pink plastic and band-aids

Tara Marie - For some reason I always seem to miss the raspberry season, forgetting until it's too late.

Dr Maroon - I've been trying to hook a note under your windscreen to see when you next want to meet for lunch.

I took half a dozen photos, but this was the best.

Of course they count towards your 5 a day. But the crumble uses up your entire week's allowance of fat & sugar in one go.

Eryl Shields said...

Mmm... crumble.

Have you come accross any sloes, I'm desperate to make sloe gin?

Kim Ayres said...

Saw hundreds of them down at Carrick - Not far from the Cream o'Galloway centre near Gatehouse of Fleet

Anonymous said...

I will be there next year, that's for sure. In the meantime, can I send you a ticjet to come here? Bring the family--it's on me. Seriously. And a visit by you to a top doc is in order.

Pat said...

Eryl: we have sloe worms in the garden - would they do?
PS Kim: I yearn for the day when you change your latest photo. Heebie jeebies spring to mind:)

Kim Ayres said...

RG - you wouldn't believe how tempting that is.

Pat - but I just have - does my new artistic self portrait not appeal more?

Kuin said...

OMG..too cute ..Wow wish I could have gone!!!!

Shannon @ Gabi's World said...

What a beautiful girl even with the purple juice! Also congrats on the weight loss! What an awesome achievement!

Kim Ayres said...

Kuin - I'm sure there must be some kind of berries you could pick where you live :)

Shannon - welcome to my ramblings, and thank you for your warm words :)

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