One of our favorite summer activities, even as cityfolk, was taking a trip to a pick-your-own farm for fresh blackberries, strawberries, peaches, and other colorful and flavorful produce. We tried planting fruit trees in the yard, but the greenbelt in the neighborhood brought out the deer every night, and they’d strip the plants of any leaves and buds. We never got to reap the benefits of our poor besieged plants, and unfortunately, being in the city limits, we couldn’t shoot the deer. Pity, because then I could have had peaches, AND venison ?!
Now that we have some room to stretch our legs, we started planting some fruit trees. Among our first plantings was a bunch of blackberry vines along the fence. Nothing producing yet, as a matter of fact, they are quite dormant, as are most of our early plantings. We should have some great blackberry recipes coming this summer. And just let those deer try to get to them first…