Record Texas Blackberry Harvest... Hmm? Siru..Hasiya?..AK??? KLVUK? Pick one!

ndoghouse

ndoghouse

Joined
Aug 26, 2010
Messages
7,751
Looks like we have a record Blackberry harvest this year folks. Last year we picked a few hundred pounds and that was pretty much it. This year we got 250 to 300 pounds with just my wife and I pickin. If we had some help picking we could have had at least double that but we simply didnt have the time. Every day after work we would pick berries weekends including. They ripen the whole month of May and June is the end. This year they were a bit early because of all the spring rains but they were also more plentiful and fatter.

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Here is a typical after work evening harvest. About an hour of pickin tween my wife and I. Good for 5 gallons.

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She always carries her KLVUK. Thats her blade of choice and I aint changing that! Its in her hand now on her good side just trust me.

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Now I carry my KLVUK with my pugs rig when exploring for a new patch and once I get it cleared out for future pickins then I use the 25" Sirupati for mass pickings. You can lay it down across a bunch of runners for easy access and chop the unruly youpon branches away for easy pickins later when them red ones turn black.

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This is just one hot patch. We pick the black shiny sweet ones and the red and green ones have to wait a few days till we return for the next picking cycle.

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All the berries you can eat! Eat I did. As far as you could see.

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Thats some fat berries! Beer and a Siru for scale.

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Now once you get all them on top picked there is a whole nuther layer underneath all them spiney runners. Here is where the Hasiya excels. Just hook around some runners and make you a new place to step and get to pickin. Seemed to be the best tool for moving the runners around to get to them deep ones. Once they get so big and fat they hang down low and make you work a little bit harder for them. Worth it tho.

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Got the idea!

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15 gallons of wine from our fruits of labor is just a part of it. Jam and jelly and pies and ice cream and a freezer full of berries to figure out what to do with till next year:D Another month and the American Beauty Berries (French mulberries) will be ripe and we will do this all over again. and shortly after that the muscadine grapes will follow. Aunti!... do you like blackberry jam?
 
Glad to see that you came out of the storms well. My family thankfully got record rains but only had to deal with a power outage and a minor roof leak.

It'd be interesting to learn how to do this. I have a Siru and a Hasiya, so I have the tools but I don't have the plants. And truthfully, I'm not gardener and no farmer. But swinging large blades around, that I like.
 
Man that is a heck of a harvest man, those berries are everywhere, and look delicious, I was gonna ask if any were being used for some type of beverage but ya covered it lol. Enjoy the "fruits of your labor" sorry had too lol.
 
pugs75 said:
Man that is a heck of a harvest man, those berries are everywhere, and look delicious, I was gonna ask if any were being used for some type of beverage but ya covered it lol. Enjoy the "fruits of your labor" sorry had too lol.
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The rabbits love them as well. I need to get me a .22 pistol so we can have some Gumbo:thumbup:

We came out good Scara. Were close to the Colorado river but were on high ground. Our power went out that evening but nothing more. Yes those 25" Sirus are a lot of fun. I use it like one would a machete but with the extra weight you can whack right through the two inch stuff. That blade is my working blade. I have more hours on it than any other. I wish I had something like a 30" Gelbu special:D with the weight of a 25" Siru. Maybe when the shop gets rolling again ill order one.
 
We got 6 Blueberry bushes we planted years ago, had a bumper crop of them things last year.

I like black berries probably better but the blueberries don't got no stickers, easier to pick and less bee's and such.

Round these parts where there's berries (used to pick Huckleberries too in the mountains) there's bears too. Just blacks but if they got cubs or want to lay claim to their patch they can be might unruly.
 
We have killer rabbits protecting our berries but no bears yet. I wish we had blueberries. They sell the plants here occasionally but ive never tried to grow them. and yes them stickers are hell! My hands can finally heel up now that the pickin is done. I cant even walk barefoot through them anymore. That stinks.
Come help me pick em phillll! Bring your Bamboo cutter:thumbup:
 
WOW! Blackberries are my favorite, I put them in smoothies, but they are not ready in NC yet. Enjoy!
 
Yeah we're a couple months away at least for Blackberries here too.

Wife couldn't believe you had them this early, thought I misread and maybe it was last year.

I'll have to show her your pictures tonight when I get home if she's talking to me. Course I guess she don't gotta talk to look at pictures.
 
Here I sit thinking about blackberry pie now and it's all your fault Kamidog!
 
Bookie said:
Here I sit thinking about blackberry pie now and it's all your fault Kamidog!
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You only get that yella gold dont you? I got black gold here in Texas. Lemme see what I can do for ya doc. Hope you had a good time in the upper one. Was wondering were you were but then again i figured soon as you got to feeling welll you'd be out there turnin rocks again. Good to have ya back. Ive already read all them books you reffered me to. Now I understand when you say "weld it" you aint talkin about a stick welder. you mean upset it, scarf it, and weld it by god! Im learning.
 
I think there is a variety of blackberry without thorns. A friend's now ex-mother in law has some growing in her backyard, and when I was up there with my friend she gave me a few to sample. I really need to find a way of using my kuks and Hasiya. I practice with them for martial purposes, but the only practical use so far has been chopping potatoes with a Reti, and pumpkin carving with a WWII and Suga.
 
Hello there fellow Texan.

You're not the only one with a mass of wild blackberries.
I got them everywhere out at my place too, but I didn't need my khuk to cut my way to get to them though, like y... wait.

You just used the blackberries as an excuse to post pics of your khukuri didn't you. :rolleyes:
 
Scara said:
I think there is a variety of blackberry without thorns. A friend's now ex-mother in law has some growing in her backyard, and when I was up there with my friend she gave me a few to sample. I really need to find a way of using my kuks and Hasiya. I practice with them for martial purposes, but the only practical use so far has been chopping potatoes with a Reti, and pumpkin carving with a WWII and Suga.
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Yes there is a thornless cultivar of blackberry... but it doesn't grow nearly as aggressive as the native thorn varieties. So the thornless BBs don't do very well if you have thorny BBs around. They'll be overrun by the natives... in one growing season... unless you aggressively cut the natives back. Even then, it's difficult, b/c the thorny BBs seed so readily.
Also, the thornless variety is not as drought hardy either.
 
00Turok said:
Yes there is a thornless cultivar of blackberry... but it doesn't grow nearly as aggressive as the native thorn varieties. So the thornless BBs don't do very well if you have thorny BBs around. They'll be overrun by the natives... in one growing season... unless you aggressively cut the natives back. Even then, it's difficult, b/c the thorny BBs seed so readily.
Also, the thornless variety is not as drought hardy either.
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They weren't wild bushes. They were a few small ones growing in the backyard so that wasn't as big a worry, but it did mean fewer berries. Still, that family wasn't likely ever to harvest even what they had. Interesting that it's not drought hardy, as it's in a drought prone area. Then again, it was in the backyard and they had a sprinkler system. I miss Texas all of a sudden.
 
00Turok said:
Hello there fellow Texan.

You're not the only one with a mass of wild blackberries.
I got them everywhere out at my place too, but I didn't need my khuk to cut my way to get to them though, like y... wait.

You just used the blackberries as an excuse to post pics of your khukuri didn't you. :rolleyes:
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Ha! Your about half right 00:D Theres a lot of dead trees since we had a forest fire here about 4 years ago...dang that long? Anyway the old dead trees have fallen and there are piles of dead youpon, pine trees, and oak branches all over the ground. The vines grow all over and around these brush piles and make it a real challenge to get to some of them. Once I get all the overhanging branches cut and cleared I can then hasiya my way to the lower ones. And yes ill take any opportunity I can to show off my blades! I know I like seeing all your blades too so only fair I post some.
My wine is done fermenting so I have to strain all the seeds and pulp out this weekend then sulfite it and let it settle out till it clears. I tasted it yesterday while I measured the gravity and it is going to be real good! It finished out at 15% alkeehol:very_drunk: Next I bottle it and let it age. Best about a year. Some may not make it that long but thats one of the hazards of wine making. I still have one bottle of blackberry mead (honey and bb's) that's 23 years old. Yum!!!

Scara ive heard about them thornless ones but never tasted them. My sister told me she bought one plant so ill eventually get to try them. I scolded her and asked her why the heck did you buy bb plants? I usually give her pounds of them each year? Interesting tho. I cant imagine them without spines.
 
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