The Thornless Blackberry Patch - Yum…

Before I bought the apple farm in 1997, I used to visit the elderly couple, Willi and Maria, who lived here. They had bought the land in 1948, the year I was born, and planted all the trees.

They were younger then, in their mid- forties and worked hard to create an organic farm where they grew most of their food and sold it too. They grew apples, almonds, walnuts, grapes, pears, plums, berries and a huge vegetable garden with tomatoes, corn, squash and herbs.

When I visited, Willie would show me around with pride. I noticed that his favorite area seemed to be his thornless blackberries patch. If you’ve ever picked blackberries, you know how special it is to have thornless ones that don’t scratch you all up as you pick. When Willie died in 1997 at age ninety-four and Maria went into a home, the farm was in danger of being bought by a developer who had designs on the eight-acre parcel, which could have been subdivided.

That’s when I stepped in and said, “someone has to do something. Someone has to save this farm!” Well, as you can guess, that someone turned out to be me and here I am, seventeen years later. I had to learn organic farming from the ‘hands on’ method of trial and error, but learned right away that the farm was very forgiving.

I read a wonderful Wendell Berry essay once, about a young couple who were trying to buy a farm. They’d worked the land and loved it, but it seemed that they were going to be outbid. But they got it, against all odds, and someone said to then, “the farm chose you.” That’s how it felt when I bought this piece of land. I overcame so many odds, which felt insurmountable, to become the proud owner of this lovely farm. It did feel like “the farm chose me.”

In honor of Willi, I have nurtured the thornless blackberry patch with water, weeding, pruning, staking and bird netting. The result is a flourishing berry-patch which provides us scrumptious berries for our breakfast each day. This weekend, we’re having a family reunion, and I’ll make a peach and blackberry cobbler. And the grandchildren will pick some of the luscious berries, getting the juice all over their fingers and mouths as they pick and eat, pick and eat. We’ll pick extras for some jam too.

I’ve included a photo of the patch and some of the garden. And think rain!