Fruit growing and picking is a rewarding family project. It emphasizes seasons and long term planning. It is a form of primary production. It is ripe full of bursting reward.
It can and should go beyond your immediate family.
Here is a steader report how one family has turned their blackberry patch into something that binds their church congregation together.
A church member planted these thornless blackberry bushes 10 years ago and now gets so many that most of them just go to waste, so every year they invite anyone to come pick them for free. we got to take him up on it this year and picked a few gallons of blackberries in about an hour. wife has been baking and freezing desserts for the past few days. a cobbler for FHE, muffins for breakfast, oatmeal fruit bars for car trips, etc. had this pie last night. we'll make syrup with the rest. pretty amazing.
Amazing. Other blackberry drools:
-- in the blender with vanilla ice cream, so good
--made a lemon thyme blackberry syrup once.
If your kids are grown, don’t just cut down the tree or rip up the berry patch. Invite neighbors and friends. Put up a notice on your community page. The ideal neighborhood has fruit everywhere and growing and picking and preserving it is a neighborhood project.
Or just invite back your kids with their own children.
My dad called us up. The peaches are ripe. He has different kinds, we will be back every week or two through August. Worth the drive. The kids love it. We are having frozen peaches with raw milk.
That’s nice, you might think. Cozy. Nice pictures.
You are right but you are also wrong. Anyone who dreams big is making pictures like these. Survival is the only road to glory. If your dream doesn’t require generations, your dream is not big enough. You must lay the foundation of a great work.
He who builds a cathedral lays the first stone. His great-grandson lays the last.
The route to the stars goes through blackberry pie.