Blackberries

It has begun. Well, it sort of began about a month ago with all of the elderberry cordial I made. But foraging is in full swing!
I grabbed my little basket, which is far too small really and headed out for my secret foraging spot!

It's still a bit early in the year, but I thought I'd give it a go anyhow. The berries on the ends of the bunches were the ones that were ready so I went for it!
However....there are some risks involved....

The evil nettles. horrid, horrid, horrid stinging nettles. They always get me. always! I don't know about you, but I get welts from nettle stings and even a minor brush will still be stinging the next day!

The green bits are bits of Doc leaf that I rubbed all over my stung self. And yes. It works.

Thank you Doc Leaves!

After the unfortunate incident I continued on my way.

What's the story morning glory?

The single & most delicious raspberry on earth.

I remember finding a single raspberry last year. Just ONE! I sort of remembered where I'd found it. Sure enough I found the same thing! One single raspberry! Incredibly yummy too!

The best spot! 

My basket is way too small! 

Blackberry manicure.

This little lady faired better with the nettles than I did!

I got my berries home, washed them & picked out any creepy crawlies that came with them. Heated them up, mashed them down, squished them through a sieve. Added an equal amount of sugar a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice and cooked it for about 30 minutes all together.
What I've got is a huge jar of very jammy, very sweet & extremely fruity seedless blackberry jam!
It is even better than it sounds! Yum!
I'll wait a week or so and go down for my second forage! Hmm....what shall we make with those berries?
Do you have a fave blackberry treat or recipe?

One Craft Fair Under My Crafty Belt!

Hooray! We did it! It was so much fun & boy was I tired! We were up late making scarves and chocolates and cakes!
I dragged myself out of bed after a few hours sleep bagged the chocolates & cakes and had a mere one cup of tea!
Bags and boxes packed into the car Jayne & I were off to the Kelsall Community Centre!
The place was already hopping with people setting up their stalls so we unloaded and started setting up our table, number 8 it was. 
And here we are!

Jayne busy crocheting away!

Me at my first craft fair stall!

 Me looking busy....

We might have made it into the Chester Chronicle too! I'll have to check on Thursday!

We were even invited to take part in a fair happening at the same place next Sunday! So if you couldn't come see us yesterday there's still another chance next Sunday!!!!