A few weeks ago Dane and I headed up to Vermont to visit our bestest friends Sam and Jason in Vermont (while they were home visiting from Minneapolis). They are originally from the Northeast Kingdom (a.k.a. almost Canada) and the area is absolutely beautiful and in the middle of nowhere. Perfect place to relax.
Dane and his buddy Jake
We spent most of our time relaxing with their families and enjoying being outside. I got to learn about sugaring (how you make maple syrup) and am really hoping to make it up to VT again for sugaring season so I can see the process in action.
Hummingbirds coming by while I was laying on the hammock on the front deck.
Jason and Abby the pup
Sam’s mom mentioned the fresh blackberry patch nearby. She barely finished her sentence before we all hopped in the car to head down to the wild blackberry patch. How much better can it get than fresh wild blackberries?
Maybe about a mile away in a pretty uninhabited area of VT we all picked up our buckets and started picking. Sam’s mom is a champion picker and had her container filled in about 5 minutes. The rest of us were having too much fun with it and we took a bit longer.
Wild blackberries
Oh and we noticed some of the patch was bent and crushed. Which Sam’s mom mentioned was just because of the bear. No big deal.
Wait, WHAT?! The bear?!
Yes, the bear. He comes around, but we’d totally hear him if he was coming… probably.
Whatever, back to picking.
My J-Love and his blackberries
Hubs doing his picking
This was the only wild animal we encountered
We ended up with a TON of blackberries and barely made a dent in the patch. There were so many! We had a blast picking them all together.
The bountiful blackberry harvest!
And then we ate blackberries for days and days. And they were absolutely delicious!
Perfectly sweet and delicious.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I grew up near Rutland, VT and am quite familiar with Vermont blackberries or “longjacks,” as we called them. Lots of seeds (we called the jam made from them “buckshot jam”) and sort of a bitter note to the taste but quite delicious. There are lots of wild berries in Vermont in the summer and fall. To my mind, the best are Vermont wild blueberries. Once you’ve had them, the store-bought ones won’t quite do it for you.
Vermont blueberries sound even better than blackberries! Blueberries have to be my favorite. Maybe we’ll have to scout them out next time we’re up there! Thanks for coming by!
Where can i just stubble across a wild patch of blackberries in vermont?
Hi Heather! Our friends are from northern VT, about 2 miles from Canada, in the Northeast Kingdom. This was actually on one of their neighbor’s properties up there.