The tame blackberries we had growing above the house have about all died out. We built the bed and planted them back in 2020.
It was the first raised bed we put on the bank. Matt cut trees out of the woods up on the ridge to build up the front of the bed so the dirt we added wouldn’t just slide down the bank.
Like other log beds we’ve built it worked great until it rotted away. The blackberry bed has to be replaced before we replant in the area.
Instead of cutting trees we bought another metal raised bed like the others we have on the bank.
Some folks don’t care for tame blackberries. Miss Cindy didn’t. She said they didn’t have near the flavor of wild ones. I love all blackberries.
We had two different varieties growing: Natchez and Prime Ark Freedom. I liked both of them but think the Natchez grew and produced better until they died out.
I’ve ordered a few Ouachita blackberry plants. They’re supposed to be more resistant to all the diseases that often attack blackberry plants. I hope that claim rings true for us.
The Foxfire Book shares the following about blackberries.
- To relieve diarrhea drink blackberry juice
- To aid in stomach trouble drink blackberry juice
- To relive dysentery drink blackberry juice
- It will be a bad winter if blackberry blooms are especially heavy
Last night’s video: The EASIEST Hash Browns, Country Ham, Red Eye Gravy, & Biscuits = YUM!
Tipper
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Tipper, I may be misunderstanding several lines in your post from the Foxfire Book regarding uses for blackberry juice. Does it really use “relive” when referring to diarrhea and dysentery? Maybe I don’t understand the Appalachian dialect, but to me to “relive” something means to experience it again, especially in the mind or a memory. Should not the word be “relieve” instead? Why would anyone want to relive diarrhea or dysentery? That would put me off blackberries for ever! By the way, we have a wild blackberry out here in Washington and Oregon known as the Himmalian Blackberry. It is a tall bush blackberry with vicious thorns, but delicious berries!
Robert, just a typo 🙂 Thank you!
The house we moved into has about 110ft long fence line of thornless blackberries. They were doing great and we were getting lots of fruit. But now I’m battling stink bugs sucking the juice out of my berries and something else eating the leaves all up! We have wild ones as well and try to pick both. Made some jam today and cobbler yesterday. Love em on top of a Dutch puff with maple syrup and fresh butter. This is the best time of the year!
A few years ago i bought some “Ponca” blackberry plants from our local Mennonite market near Benton Tn. It was the 3rd year before we had a good many berries to pick and they have produced more each year since then. “Ponca” was released bu University of Arkansas and is almost self supporting, does well with tip pruning to increase yield and has outstanding flavor.
I love blackberries but every time a pick them I get covered in chiggers. It’s just not worth it! They make the best jelly, though!
Praying for everyone on here who asked or needs them.
If you have different varieties of wild and “tame” berries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, mulberries and, if you live North enough, Saskatoon berries, one thing you might consider doing is making a bumbleberry pie (a nickname for a mixed-berry pie). There’s all different recipes, so pick one that works for you.
Tipper, I wanted to share with you and experience that I had. I was very excited when I picked up a load of composted horse manure near Yadkinville this spring. Little did I know, it was contaminated with Grazon. Can you imagine having a big beautiful garden bed with a thick layer of compost and all of your plants, if they come up at all, are wrinkled and deformed? They don’t tell you that when you buy it off the farm. So, I have to cull all of my plants, dig up all the manure and the affected soil, and let it sit for about two years. Growing nothing. I think that’s pretty depressing. Just a word of warning for your readers.
I’m so sorry you have had this problem too. I know that is so very frustrating.
Spending over 7 years in northern Wisconsin, I remember blackberries were plentiful but you had to go in the woods to find them. My mom and grandma and I would go hunting for them. It was nice and cool in the woods. We wore long pants and long-sleeved shirts to protect against the bugs and thistles. My mom tied a little pail around my waist and really cautioned me about staying close between her and grandma because of the bears. They both were quick to point out the tracks we’d see. Luckily we only found one bear track and it was old. The blackberries were juicy and sweet and it was hard to actually put them in my pail. My fingers got nicely colored, and grandma wiped my mouth from the juice. Good memories.
You’re all making me hungry lol !
Love & prayers for all !
Nothing smells as wonderful as blackberries cooking. My mom used to make fluffy dumplings, which she dropped into the boiling juice sweetened with plenty of sugar. It was a real treat for kids like us who seldom had desserts. The pretty purple color made them seem even more delicious.
Praying for Papaw Tony!
About 15 years ago, I’m guessing birds planted a patch of blackberries in and around a pile of old wooden fence posts. My grandson and I greatly enjoyed this surprise bounty for 3 years. The 4th year on produced enough to have some yard candy and eventually died out completely. I tried, unsuccessfully, for several years to start tame ones but eventually gave up. It was a wonderful treat while they lasted. Off to the dermatologist to get checked over and prayers she finds nothing of concern. 4 years ago I had a squamous cell patch of cancer removed from my left bicep. Tomorrow I go for a chemo treatment and to get results from my ct scan I had last week. The report I read shows the lymph nodes I’m being treated for have slightly enlarged. Prayers my APRN and oncologist have positive news for my continued treatment. Thank you in advance for your prayers. On a much happier note, I enjoyed supper and a 4 hour visit with my flower girl. She was born when I was 14. I babysat her and her little brother and when she was in college she babysat for my daughter. I love how we’ve remained close her entire life. Our relationship is very special to me♡
Praying for you Kim!!
Thank you, Tipper! Praise report from derm visit! Ary a spot found for concern and I don’t have to see her again until next year♡
I to love the wild ones best. I used to can and pick them by the gallons as a child. Up until about 5 years ago I bought them from an older lady at our church. Blanche is dead now so I have no one to buy them from. The store bought ones have too large of seeds, but I buy them to save the juice for diarrhea. I also will make jelly out of them. They are my favorite. God bless
I have wild blackberries but in the past they haven’t produced enough to pick. I have seen some large green ones this year so maybe that will change. At one time we had some white ones but they were mowed down and never grew back. My late husband bought and planted some thornless tame ones that have produced well. They are big tasty berries. His favorite way to use them was for a cheesecake. They are planted in an open area between two metal fence posts making picking easy. He put two layers of clothesline wire to support them. Each winter I cut off the dead canes and tie the new canes to the clothesline. Last year the weather did not cooperate and I didn’t get many but that’s ok because I still have some in the freezer from the year before. It looks like I’ll get more this year with enough to share with friends, family and wildlife.
My Mother told about many days of growing up in NE MS and going blackberry picking with her Mama and Sisters. Lots of good cooking and putting up afterwards:)
Matt, my Grandmother Kennedy Young made Red Eye Gravy and it was a favorite of my Daddy’s and I loved it too. Of course, they processed the hogs they raised and that meat was cut and salted and put in big salt boxes in the smoke house. My Great Grandfather Kennedy was a potter by trade and made churns, pitchers and such and sold them to old general stores. I have a old picture of him standing in front of his shop, made of logs, wearing those old bib overalls that a lot of the farmers wore back in the day. My Grandmother learned how to make red eye gravy as a young girl.
The wild blackberry bushes have taken over the side of our property closest to our neighbors back wooded area. I tried to cut them back earlier this year, but I think it made them grow more. I’ve never harvested from them because I considered that the deer and birds food so they would leave my garden alone and so far that has worked, but that could change at anytime. I like the Foxfire tips on blackberries and need to keep them in mind.
I’m glad to know what Foxfire says about blackberries. It seems the old people knew plants that were medicinal, but somehow retention of said knowledge seems all but lost in the days where REAL intelligence or common sense cannot be found and are shunned by a warped bunch of freaky rascals. I’m going to drink raw milk when I find it, eat raw honey (I have found that) and live as closely to the GOOD OLD WAYS as I can-raw ain’t just naked anymore- berries and all. Have a good day as I wish I had a few cordials of blackberry wine for medicinal purposes you see… lol I bet it’s DELICIOUS AND makes you happy if you don’t overimbibe… plus the stomach feels better too? It’s a winner winner chicken dinner… We will be feeling fine after blackberry or raspberry wine… I knew an old HUNGARIAN woman who could make the best wine from dandelions to berries to grapes. She’d get lit and sing in Hungarian. As I grew older, I grew closer to Miss Liz who ran the CRICKET in Pocahontas, Va… she ran every illicit vice there was back in the day from gambling to drinking to flesh and they didn’t call her the Countess for nuthin’. Every daughter she had was as pretty as a yellow daisy with yellow hair and blue eyes with dark skin. Lol the good old days where opportunity knocked and you took it for the mining cash.
Sadie- You have lots of interesting stories and experiences you share. I think you should consider writing a book. I would buy it.
I have four retaining “walls”. They are each low, about 12″ to 18″. I started out with the cresoted crossties which can’t be found anymore. Then I tried landscape edging – too weak. Then I re-used concrete block from takingour our old chimney down. After that, I started using treated fence posts, scrap wood, rocks or whatever. Seems there is no best way, just temporary fixes. I have a blackberry saga to with thornless cultivars. Years ago I planted 4 or 5, each a different cultivar. The only one I remember was “Navahoe”. But the deer kept them eaten down and they couldn’t bear. Several died. So I transplanted the survivors to inside the garden fence and they started taking over. So I transplanted them again to a corner shaded by a partly mine and partly the neighbors black cherry. This will be the first year they have berries. Hope your metal edge does all you hope. From your pictures, I can see you really need the room on that sunny bank.
Sadie, your comment about common sense and the old ways. Nowadays I think common sense is in very short supply. Two weeks ago after my son had weed eat around our house his finger swelled up real bad with infection and was so sore he couldn’t stand to touch it. He went to urgent care and the lady that saw him couldn’t find anything in it. She wrote a prescription for antibiotics and to my surprise told him to soak it in epsom salt and warm water. I figured Epsom salt had been forgotten about years ago. His co worker told him to soak it in apple cider vinegar. He did and the infection (pus) began draining out. In a couple of days the swelling had went down and the soreness was getting a lot better. I look where he was weed eating and saw some very short weeds with clear looking thistles, I think that may have been what was in his finger. To me this was just an old treatment that worked.
the doctor says I need to get a colonoscopy and endoscopy, numbers on my blood panel have been being low, the emergency room doctor a while back said I needed to get somebody to check into that, I started with my PCP and she sent me to infectious disease, but like an infectious disease said she thought it was my dental infection and she didn’t do no test, well the phone investigating endoscopy, and low red blood cell count, and low body temperature 97°, it’s been brought to my attention that my upper GI tract could be losing blood, and digesting in my lower, no evidence seen, I will have to quit my blood thinner, two days prior, I will have to quit eating foods containing seeds 7 days prior, the day before I can’t have nothing but some kind of juice, maybe some applesauce, I don’t drink coffee, it causes pain in my body, I’ll be trying to talk some more doctors today, I have not gotten a diagnosis it said I’m losing blood, hopefully I won’t, but artificial intelligence make these connections for me while searching about endoscopy, it’s going to be a while, thank you for praying for me God bless you, and God bless Papaw Tony with deliverance from sickness and disease, hesl6 his body and make him well Lord in Jesus name, Amen
I will keep praying for you!!
Hi Tipper,
Last Summer I made the best blackberry cobbler I’ve ever ate in my life and my husband loved it just as much. I made it using your blackberry cobbler recipe and wild blackberries growing near our house. We’re in Bledsoe County, TN and watching our blackberry bushes like hawks…ha ha to get them before the birds! We love your channel and feel like ya’ll could be family.
I also wanted to say I too recently lost my mother…she passed away from lung cancer May 8th…as I near the one month mark in this season of grief…I ask you pray for me and my family and I will continue to pray for your family and your followers.
I’m so sorry you lost her. I will pray for you!!
Joanna, I’m so sorry to read that you lost your mom. It’s been almost 5 years since I lost mine. May your pain lessen as time passes and the wonderful memories take over♡
I wrote about this a few days ago, my maternal grandparents, mother, me and a couple of neighbors would make “a day” out of picking wild blackberries together. These berries would be used in jellies and to make cobbler pies. My Daddy and paternal grandparents believed in blackberry juice being good for stomach problems. Now I have a good friend that believes buttermilk is good for stomach problems.
We have a patch of black raspberries and thornless blackberries growing mixed together. We love both of them! Our raspberries are starting to ripen, so we’ve been trying to pick them and it looks like we’ll have a good crop of blackberries. Last year it was a bumper crop for both. I love making pies, cobblers and jams from both of them. I hope the ones you ordered do well for you.
When I was growing up in Northern South Carolina we would keep a close eye on our favorite blackberry patch waiting for the berries to start ripening. When they started getting ripe we spent hours picking them. My mother made pies, cobblers and fruit pies. We would walk the neighbors houses selling berries to people who couldn’t get out and pick their own. It was a way of making a little pocket money.
Your comment northern South Carolina makes me wonder where. I have lived all of my life (72 years) in southern Greenville County, SC near the small community of Princeton.
I also live blackberries. Growing up in NH my brother and I would pick tons of blackberries about a mile from our house. zit wad a very large patch of wild blackberries that surrounded a huge rock.that was named eagle rock because of how it looked from one side. We actually sold blackberries for the brief period that they were around. When I bought my first house it came with.five rows of cultivated raspberries which we made jam out of every summer. To this day I still love the taste of blackberries and raspberries.
My first house came with black, red, gold and a magenta shade of raspberry, which was my favorite. I was very young and taught myself how to make jam out of an Organic Living book.
They were all delicious.