July means....blackberries!

So how do you spend a day off in July? For Marisa and me, it is picking blackberries. Fresh blackberries, not the electronic gadgets that seemingly allow you to do anything. I'm talking about the fresh berries that grow on vines. Growing up, blackberries were a staple in our diet. We had blackberry preserves and cobbler year round. My father had what seemed like miles of blackberry vines on the farm. People would come and pick the berries and half them with us. When the berries started ripening quickly, our whole family would go out and gather all of the berries. My mother would freeze them or cook them up for preserves. Mom called it "putting up berries". When I was young we used wax to seal the jars. Later, we used a pressure cooker. My job was was the lid checker. I loved every minute of it. I can still smell that fresh smell!

Life was just a tire swing
'Jambalaya' was the only song I could sing
Blackberry pickin', eatin' fried chicken
And I never knew a thing about pain
Life was just a tire swing

My mother's cobbler was the best around, and when Marisa and I got married, I tried to get the recipe from my mom. Getting a recipe from her is not always easy - oh she is glad to part with the information, but it is in her own language. She would tell me to use enough sugar to "cover the berries". Cover the berries? Completely covered or sprinkled? Mom said, "Well, you know, enough to cover the berries." So some of the information, I only know that way. My sister asked that I post the recipe for cobbler so I will do that. Just understand, some of it is in my mother's language. So here it is....

Dough

1 1/4 C All Purpose Flour
3/4 C Self Rising Flour
3/4 C Crisco
1/2 C Milk

Prepare dough and cool. Roll out just over half the dough for the bottom. Place into a baking dish and fill with berries. Add enough sugar to cover the berries. Cover with the remaining dough and poke holes in the top for bleeding. Bake at 350 until brown.

Secret Sauce
2 1/2 C Milk
1 Egg
1/2 C Sugar
1 Heaping Tablespoon Flour
Pinch Salt
1 Tb Butter
1/2 Ts Vanilla

Heat milk. Add salt, egg and flour. Take off stove. Add butter and vanilla.

Well, there you have it!

Stay tooned!!!