Berry Pickin' and Mules

Oh how I love black berries, black caps...anyway.  Those beautiful black berries that ripen in the woods on or around the 4th of July.

This year they were a bit later, which has worked out quite well.

Yesterday before breakfast I was able to walk out to the edge of the woods and pick enough to go with our breakfast.

Yesterday afternoon, I took Morris and we went for a walk alongside the road.  Morris loves getting in close to the plants and picking his own berries.  Yes, he eats them!

I froze a pint and a half from that little walk.

Later on we took out Opal and Fred and decided to ride back to the yellow-golden berry patch.

Each year it is harder to get to as the multiflora rose and other plants like wild grapes begin to crowd the area out.
But we went prepared!

Here is Fred with Hubby and a couple of buckets.

Here is the stand of berries.  I think I'll need to go back and pick again later.

It is hard enough to pick these that you have to wear hiking chaps to protect your legs from the other prickly things that grow there.

For me, half the fun is getting to ride a mule to the location of the berries. 
It was a quiet pleasant ride.
And a beautiful summer evening.