JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

The wife and I made a nice discover on our property yesterday! After doing a little bush hogging, I realized we had a very prickly bush that easily covers 3 to 4 acres of our land SOLID. We have TONS of it... Well, strangely neither my wife or I realized what is was until this past weekend! Black Berries!

Needless to say we will have a HUGE harvest in about two to three weeks!

Here is a picture of one small plant:

http://www.cxp.com/username/black-berry-01.jpg

What a pleasant surprise that was indeed!

Dave

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

We're still eating the strawberry, boysenberry, and blueberry from last year. Homemade is great.

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

How long have you had the property? The bushes on my parents' property were extremely bitter (inedible)...needed a lot of soil (pH) remediation I guess.

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Great find dave!

You need to find a good farmers market to sell them off at if they arent too bitter.

And also, need to freeze some, pack em in dry ice and send em down to me so I can make jam too!

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

I love the wild blackberries. I've discovered a huge abundance on my daily walk along the causeway in the Wetlands Preserve. Yes, some are bitter... some sour and some are deliciously sweet and juicy. Mash em up with a little honey or just mix them in with slaws or in salads. They go great with meat as well.
What you have there on your land is Super Food straight from heaven.
Pick em till your fingers are stained purple, then do a little jig and give thanks.

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

wildcard,

Indeed! They are crazy expensive! Come to find out, the area cash crop in my part of Florida is blue berries. Apparently, if done right people are earning about $30,000 per acre on early season deliveries.

Meliorist,

Well ironically, we met one of our neighbors just after our discovery. Our neighbor has been making jam with the berries for two seasons now with great success so I am pretty confident they will not be too bitter though we will find out in a couple of weeks.

Heimdhal,

You bet, how about we send you the processed goods in the form of Jam? We will be experimenting with jam recipes so I will consider you to be a tester ;)

Realjack,

You know it! I have MANY childhood memories growing up in Florida eating berries out in the woods complete with the stained hands :) The discovery brought memories and joy to my wife and I to say the least.

Dave

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

don't worry the ones you mowed down will be back in a week unless you poised the crap out of them

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

.tip::wink:
Roundup will quickly get rid of those pesky natural plants

then you can seed/plant the ground with genetically modified

berry plants that will yield a LOT more frankenberries per square meter:sarcasm:

http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/wa...ANKENBERRY.jpg

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

LOL, that made me laugh... Actually, this neighbor is about a quarter mile down the road on 10 acres. Pretty much the same soil type. They have them growing wild like we do but not nearly as many.

We do have hunters come down our dirt road occasionally shining deer so I know that will become a issue in the future to deal with. That might be a time I take hostages.... Hmmm Maybe I will setup a fake deer that shoots back :D

Dave

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Thatll work too. Ill send ya some cash for your time and the jars.

Ive been experimenting a little here as well with strawberry jam recipes. The last couple I tried were the less/no sugar types, which I really enjoyed. I also did one sweetened slightly with honey, but found that it can be a tough balance to get it just right. I tried orange blossom, clover, and killer bee honeys, but just oculdnt bring myself to make an entire 8 pound batch with it, so went with just a little cane sugar instead.

If what you heard about the bluberries being a big cash crop up there is indeed true, then that is obviously something to seriously consider. 1 to 2 acres would certainly be managable with little outside help. Hydroponics might be a thing to consider for getting large crops in early.

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Dave, also, let me know if you and your neighbors start having trouble with wild hogs up there. I've been looking to bag me a couple, and its much easier getting them off of private property rather than waiting for season and asking the state for permission :)

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

I have a couple straight forward recipes with sugar that I plan to use. I will probably get a little experimental once we have a few successful batches.

Maybe we can try and get a Florida GIM get together to which I could just bring some jars as peace offerings ;)

Dave

BTW - I would have a hard time charging friends for something we have in plenty on our land.

Dave

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Well, I do appreciate my friend. I bet the kids are stoked(or will be) to be out picking and eating fresh berries!

Id love to get a GIM meet up going down here. There was one in 07 from what I understand. Theress also quite a few members down here in my neck of the woods. 10 or so that I can think of right off the top of my head all within 1 hour of me. Something in orlando would fun, especialy for those of us with kids.

Keep us updated with these black berries too. Id love to see some more pictures once they start coming in. I just harvested my frist home grown garlic last week.

Grew three bulbs in a pot. One bulb came in early, but was perfect, the other two I accidently let them sit too long in the pot, they are still drying, so I have to wait to see how theyll turn out.

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Count me in. :s1:

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Blackberries are at their peak right now here near the Ocala National Forest.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...errythorns.jpg

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Keep the kids away from these Rosary Peas though. Very deadly.

http://i286.photobucket.com/albums/l...RoseryPeas.jpg

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

We make black berry jam almost every year. When a cleared the field this spiring I left a patch and I am now fencing it in to keep the cows out of them.

Black berry jam is good stuff!

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

I thought the title of this thread said "Jail time" when I glanced at it and then I thought that you had found a bunch of wild marijuana plants on your property when I first opened the thread.

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Armed.Peasant,

You really can't beat food already out there in nature some times! It is AMAZING how thick the Black Berries are. Literally, they stalled a 35hp Kubota with a bush hog when I first made a path through them back in winter. Now, with the recent rain and sun they are even thicker!

To be honest, they serve as a great barrier as they are almost impossible to pass through.

In any case, what a great find. I can already see the kids coming back with dark purple rings around their mouths :biggrin:

Dave

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Real,

Thanks for the heads up on that. I don't recall seeing those, but I will be sure to let my wife know just so we can keep the young kids away. They have an unfortunate tendency of putting just about anything in their mouths.

Dave

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Yep, I was already thinking about that.... I will have to arm every one of my kids with baskets and .22s!

Dave

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Dave, those Rosary Peas are not indigenous to the US, but are an invasive foreign species of vine that likes to grow up into tress. They may not have reached your acreage yet, but here in Lake County they're all over the place.

Supposedly just one of those little peas can kill a child while it takes three to kill an adult.
And they look just like tasty little candies lying on the ground.

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Real,

Thank you for that! I just sent a link to my wife to be on the lookout for this stuff. I am going to try and identify all dangerous species on our land so we can keep the kids guarded. Our plan to to make a fenced safe area for the kids and dogs to play. Hopefully this will keep the youngest ones out of trouble.

Dave

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

As a kid I remember seeing tons of them in the woods around Indian River County(just north of where I am now). I havent seen any here in palm beach county, but that doesnt mean they arent here.

I never knew what they were till now though. Thanks for the info.

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

:111: :cry1:

Dave, Dave, Dave. C'mon man. I havent been a father nearly as long as you, but I know if my kids are anything like I was as a kid, theres no such thing as a "safe area". :tongue_ma:

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Straight jackets are handy. Or even better, the Chinese used to put the kid in a sack with sand in the bottom, then tie the sack around the kids neck. See, that way, the kid could still scratch itself, pee, and even crawl around a little, but couldn't go very far or stick crap in it's mouth.

It'd be a cheap baby sitter for sure, and Dave, you admitted you're cheap, so there ya go. I don't know why it wouldn't work with older kids, or heck, even the wife, if she gets a little troublesome. Yeah, you could just put the kids in the bag with the wife and save on bags.

Just trying to be helpful. Yuk, yuk...

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Our Bberrys are in bloom right now so it will be a while for us

One thing to make sure of at least in our area is to make sure and spray yourself down before picking as around here a Blackberry patch is the same thing as a Chigger patch i have no idea why but they seem to go together

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

LOL - This whole response had me laughing! Thank you got that RealJack!

My wife and I have had the straight-jacket discussion on MANY occasions!

Dave

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Man, you have no idea how paranoid you can get with your kids wondering around! It is hard for me to get any work done worrying about where the kids are and what they might be doing.

I know if I put them in a fenced area I could let some chickens loose to keep the snake and bugs down plus contain the kids where I can look up and count them all on a routine!

Just wait until that baby of yours starts disappearing on you! You will see then :P

Dave

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Oh no, I fully understand what you mean and am NOT looking forward to those ages. My daughters only 20 months now, so I am enjoying what little sanity I have left.

She got out of the house one day a few weeks ago and my wife and I were freaking out when we looked high and low and couldnt find her. Found her across the street playing with the flowers in front of the neighbors house, acting like everything was fine and dandy.


I was just teasin a bit. I actualy think thats a great thing to do, what with the chickens and what not. Throw some rabbits into the mix for the muck about with as well.

That actualy too brings up another benefit to having small livestock like Chickens, Rabbits, Goats and Pigs. Its something for the kids to do, as long as they dont beocme too attached come dinner time.

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

My berry patch happy memories are from Kentucky, and your area may be totally different, but we had to really watch out for copperheads who came to dine on small rodents feasting on the berries. Ask around to find out if snakes come to eat the small berry eaters.

MMMMMmmmmm JAM!!!

We made jam, jelly and canned juice we had such an abundance.

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Up here they were sour even when ripe

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Great point now that it is hot again. In Florida we have two problems, moccasins and rattle snakes. Luckily moccasins are not an issue in our are and are the more aggressive of the two. Rattlesnakes should spook pretty easily considering the noise we will be making. Naturally, I will be paying close attention to those sort of dangers!

Dave

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Uhg.... I already had a run in with Poison Ivy. Took a full three weeks to fully clear up and heal! Indeed it is NASTY STUFF!

The problem is Poison Ivy is three leaved and so are Black Berry bushes!

We will just have to be careful, where long pants and long sleeve shirts.

Dave

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

As a kid in Ohio, I'd always get eaten up with chiggers whenever I went out to pick blackberries. ITCHY!!!

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

We canned about 50lb's of blackberry and raspberry year. Makes great jam, and GREAT gifts! Everyone raved about it, and it was the standard low-sugar ball recipe.

We are planning 75lb's this year. Loads of fun, and Christmas shopping will be done early!

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

TechGuy,

I am right there with you. My wife and I were already thinking about the possibility of giving these away as Christmas Gifts! :biggrin:

To be honest, I think most people would quite enjoy a custom made gift for a change. Furthermore, I have the strong inclination this will be a Christmas season that will see a lot of home made gifts!

Dave

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

I make about 15 to 20 gallons of blackberry wine every year with about two quarts of jam from whats left over from making wine.
I cant keep people from raiding my wine before I can bottle it.

Best tasting wine you will ever taste and I'm not a wine drinker.

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Aint that the freaking truth!

I had a similar idea as well. I've had a few friends ask me for jars of my strawberry jam since they liked tis o much, so I figured I could do a three jam gift basket with home baked bread as an accompaniment. I was going to go with Strawberry, Blackberry(or mixed berry) and appricot-peach.

Of course, Id only be giving it away to 4 or so households.

Update!
 

Well, we made it out to the property and did a little black berry harvesting!

Considering we had all of the kids and it was INCREDIBLY hot we only got about an hour in but we managed to pick about 5lbs of berries while carrying two of four of our children.

I know some were concerned they wouldn't taste good, but let me tell you, they were BETTER than what you can buy in the store (maybe not as big and pretty). They were VERY sweet for black berries and would probably make a great wine.

We didn't get around to canning this time around but me made plenty of blackberry syrup for ice cream and pancakes and we also made black berry dumplings mmmmmhmm!

These berries were great and I am already looking forward to our next harvest.

http://www.cxp.com/username/blackberry-02.jpg
http://www.cxp.com/username/blackberry-03.jpg

By the way, what we picked was just a fraction of a fraction of our total crop. If I were to guess, our yield is probably in the thousands of pounds!

Being that they are so plentiful, there was no problem in competing with the critters for berries though I did see evidence of some being eaten.

This time next year we will be much better prepared to have a full scale harvest.

Either way, it was a great time had by all!

Dave

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

I just put 10 bags in the freezer for later.... already made 3 batches of jam and have enough left now for pie filling and more jam.

And I still have a bazillion left ripening out there.

Good year for berries!

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Great! And just think how amazing it is being able to harvest nice quantities of super nutrient packed sweet delicious fruit that required no care, pesticide or fertilizer whatsoever.

That's a great fortune.

Re: JAM TIME!! In Two Weeks!!
 

Up here the black berry flowers just stopped blooming.