Wild Blackberries in Season Means Only One Thing: Homemade Cobbler With Vanilla Ice Cream on the 4th

SWEET AND RIPE BY  EARLY JULY

WHEN OUR KIDS WERE SMALL,  WE'D ALL GO TO THE RAILROAD tracks near our cabin on the river and pick wild blackberries.  We each had a pail and wore long-sleeve shirts because of the briars and brambles.  I warned them to look out for snakes  that would lie in wait for the little critters that loved to eat
 the blackberries.

After we were finished picking, we---I--- washed and sorted the berries, put them in  bowl with sugar  and let them soak in the frig for hours.  Later came the flour, butter, eggs, more sugar for pastry,  then the berries---all baked about 325 in the oven for about 35 minutes.

When the cobbler was done, we put it on top of the stove to cool while the kids drooled and waited for dessert.  The scent of blackberry cobbler drifting through the cabin was like a smell from heaven.  We brought out the ice cream only after dinner  as we served the bowls at the big table.

It was quite a feast and the closest my kids came to being hunter gathers on the Fourth of July!  We ate and ate and no one really cared about the sugar hangover the next day....no one cared that our teeth would be purple afterwards!