Berries berries berries!

Recently I've become fairly obsessive over going out for long walks with Ruby and foraging for berries (I think, mainly, for the nostalgia it gives me for my childhood) - since my move London is looming, I seem to have been reminiscing an awful lot! Growing up on the outskirts of York in a small village, the highlight of this time of year was going out with my parents and grandparents into the woods with buckets to fill with brambles; I'd come back covered in scratches and muck and blackberry juice stains and all that goodness that comes with being a youngster in the countryside (that unfortunately doesn't seem as prevalent as it was even, say, ten years ago) but with the biggest grin on my face. Sheffield is very different to York, I admit, but it has it's own kind of beauty - and I was bloody well determined to find some brambles somewhere!

I remembered I'd spotted some around on a walk with Nick this time last year, so I knew roughly where to find some, but Nick was definitely not keen on the idea of picking them at the time ("Ew, don't pick those Jess!") - what a townie! Luckily, I've since managed to convince him that my brand of crazy is actually quite fun, so this time around he begrudgingly joined Ruby and I on our quest to fill as many bags as possible with blackberries. Yay!

Ruby, nose to the ground, hunting down those berries! Or, rather, having a gentle stroll while I skipped around in hedge-bottoms; she's a very, very patient dog. Also: random greenery, simply because it was so lovely to see in such a built-up area.

Nick found this little egg shell on the ground near some bramble bushes- I think it's a pigeon, since it was fairly large. I used to go searching for eggshells in my nana's garden when I was younger, and collected them in a jar so that I could look up what bird they might have brought into the world. Nick and I were looking for the other half for a good few minutes before we gave up - it really brought back memories!
On the right is an intrepid Ruby chasing after her dad through the field where we found most of our blackberries - the good ones at least!

A cute scarecrow made by the village school. He was a bit higgledy-piggledy, but I think that rather suited him. And what a difference a year makes: Nick picking blackberries all on his own! Ruby is observing, of course.

Blackberries and elderberries! It's only early in the season for them, so there weren't all that many decently sized ones - but we got what we could, which turned out to be quite a lot! I also couldn't resist grabbing some elderberries, as with all the problems with swelling in my ribcage recently, I figured the anti-inflammatory properties of these berries might come in handy. :)

I'm not even going to attempt to explain what a massive pain in the arse it was to pick all the elderberries individually from the stems - it took me hours. Nick did help me a little but it was so incredibly monotonous that he gave up and left me to it eventually! In any case, after they were all picked, I soaked them for half an hour before running them through a sieve a couple of times to make sure they were properly cleaned - same for the blackberries. The kitchen smelled so good after! 

They're now all set in the fridge and waiting to be made into some gloriously yummy goodies. I'm so excited to get making things with them! It's been so fun going out and picking them, and it really did make me quite sad that I didn't see any evidence of other people going out and doing the same. It really was one of the funnest activities for me as a child during this time of year - and when they're right on your back door, why not? It costs £2.50 for 200g of blackberries at tesco - I picked 1.2kg! 

I feel genuinely sorry for the health-and-safety obsessed people out there that won't even consider going out and making the most of nature - you're really missing out.