They're ripe. Can't remember them ever coming off this early.

We had so many put on, then a dry snap, and then a frost, we have almost nothing left, and whats there is tiny and almost dried up already.

Been thick and ripe for a few weeks down here.

Seems to be the perfect season for them here.

What are they like?

Small Blackberries.

Ed

The ones Mom grew weren't all that small. I truly hated picking them, but her cobblers and jelly were devine.

That brings back fond memories of childhood berry picking days

I love blackberries. Should be another month or so here even though it's been beautiful here for a month now. The blackberry wars of childhood, coming home stained purple. That's why we changed out of our school clothes b

Wife picked 1/2 gal Tues. afternoon and is gone now, picking some more.

I got about 2 1/2 gal. of mayhaws week before last. Easy pickings this time, water was about waist deep, so I didnt have to bend over.

Maybe my memory is off. I recall they usually came off in June. Lotta red bugs this year?

Nothing like picking a bowl full before breakfast. Go down to the spring house and ladle a measure of cream right off the top of the can to cover them and dig in.
Today's generations will never experience that

They are THICK around here, though just in full bloom now.

They being blackberries.

Ours won't be ready until late June.

Larry, I haven't heard the wife complain about red bugs, but she rubs sulfur on her shoes, socks, and jeans to keep them off.

Ed, what we call a dew berry is a lot larger than what we call blackberries. We may be talking about different fruits, I'm not sure.

Dew berries grow on runners on the ground. They may be a foot off the ground, but not much more.

Black berries grow on stems that will reach 5 or 6 feet tall.

Yep, that's a dewberry, low runners.

Mulberries ought to be getting ripe. We've got a tree at our place, where Dad lives. I'll check on it next week. We didn't get any last year, so if it makes, we need them.

Don't you get Mayhaw?

LOVE me some Mayhaw jelly

Not here. Neither are the dewberries. We seldom get any Blackberries anymore. Seems it turns off real dry every year just as they are making fruit. All there will be are small bitter berries. miles

So far, knock on wood, this has been an above average year for berries. If it rains another time or two, the blackberries will be good. If it drys up, they will be like Miles said.

Usually, one or two fruits make enough to pick, each spring. You never know what will make and what wont. This year, everything seems to be making (not sure about mulberries, yet). Not in great numbers, but plenty enough to go gather some for pies and jellies.

I've never been around Pawpaws, any of you?

Can't say I've ever done the milk/cream off/out of the can.

But I can say that when our "commercial" dewberries start to ripen there is always a container of cream in the fridge...

Dunno, what we call dewberries climb up fences, posts, corrals and so on... usually not more than 2-3 feet though.

But what I call blackberries the big commercially bred kind we planted in the garden and that will climb 5 feet or so, those are labeled by plant as a Texas something dewberry..

Pretty much all the same...

Wish raspberries would grow here or blueberries....

Will have to google as I"ve never heard the word until this thread.

Pawpaws are native here, but you seldom find any fruit. Wild critters will beat you to them. Wild Hazelnuts the same way. I don't think that I have ever found any ripe fruit. I have seen plenty of green, but no ripe. Found in the creek bottoms and more common in South Arkansas, it seems. miles

Those grow wild too. Seems like I would always encounter a thicket of those SOB's when I chose to wear shorts to survey in...

You can work (and cut) yourself to death with a machete through a strong stand of those...

We have several PawPaw patches in Tennessee, where i hunt. As mentioned earlier though, you have to be fast to beat the critters. We try to get them a little green and put inside to ripen. Not best but only way to get any. As for berries, we only have a few dewberries but acres and acres of blackberries. Yum, Yum. 4th of July is usually when we pick them.

We've been picking a few dewberries but might be a little late. I heard a rumor about a cobbler a couple days ago!

What we called dewberries were like blackberries but were big like the end of your thumb.

^^^ This

My wife makes wine out of dew berries.June 3rd last year.

Must be a local thing...LOL. The bigger teh more we called blackberries, the smaller the more we called dewberries.

Gotcha. We're talking about the same plants.

The dewberries here tend to run a little smaller than the blackberries. We also have a small wild blackberry variety here that comes ripe in early May that folks call "Mayberries".
Mayberries are the first to ripen, then the Dewberries, then the Blackberries.
There's going to be a ton of Blackberries this year!

The plum trees are covered in fruit, too. Looks like I may have to prop some branches up to keep them from breaking. Tough problem to have, eh?

Ed

We still have some here in Northwest AR. One of the older locals in your area can probably point you in the direction of a patch or two. They have a short shelf life so when you find a ripe one you need to eat it fairly quick.

I wish I had a few good plum trees, I love them.

We dont have the 'Mayberries', or at least I've never seen any. Where I live the dew berries will be almost as big as the end of you thumb, and the blackberries about half that size. Dew berries are usually sweeter, also.

Wife must have picked dewberries again today, she's not here, but there is another half gallon in the kitchen.

Same situation here miles. This March I planted 50 Paw Paw trees and fifty hazelnut bushes in two location of 25 each. Hope they make it through the summer. Also put out 50 Pecan trees, 25 Holly and 25 Cypress. They were from 12 to 18" tall. Was a lot easier ordering them than planting them.

I won't be around to enjoy them but children and grandchildren will if they keep the farm after I am gone. Paw Paw's are pretty pungent to eat but like the novelty of them. Dewberries, blackberries, gooseberries, wild plums,wild grapes, along with fish,rabbits,squirrels,quail and any other critter that was eatable were staples for us growing up. Folks raised eleven children and we relied on the above plus large gardens. Couple of milk cows, chickens and pork in the smokehouse and we were never hungry.

Would seem a hard way of life to some but a way of life that I sure miss. Three of us left now and all of questionable health. Dad always said he didn't do bad as none of us had to serve any hard time. GW

303, that's about the same thing I'm going to do on our place. I am growing from seed, 33 black walnut trees, gonna buy 8 pecan, buy 8 chestnut, and grow from acorns 30 or so sawtooth oaks. We will plant all but the sawtooths next winter. Also planting 40 or so acres of pines. I wont get much good from any of it, but the kids will.

My father used to live near Pensacola and dewberries grew in the white sand of the vacant lots next to his yard. Pretty good, just like blackberries.

We have paw paws in the woods around here, but like someone said, you gotta be quick to get any. When they're thick, the woods reek with the smell of the fermenting fruit on the ground. They're an acquired taste, similar to bananas, but the texture is a little strange.

They are all over the cliff line below my mom and dad's house.

Next time you're over here we'll dig up some little ones for you to plant.

Ed

You got a deal!