Berry good advice

Re: Learning life’s lessons from picking blackberries, Column, Aug. 15

A very well-written piece on blackberries by Gordon Clark. But he missed a couple of very important points in his article.

Just like “don’t eat yellow snow,” never pick and immediately eat blackberries at or below waist level. I have seen too many guys and dogs peeing directly onto the blackberry bushes in my neighbourhood.

Bring a small- to medium-height stepladder to pick blackberries. Otherwise, the biggest and best blackberries are often well beyond reach. The ladder will also protect you from the thorns. Gently placing your stepladder against a large patch will not damage the well-developed bushes.

(I won’t divulge my favourite blackberry patches, as every year they produce bountiful levels of sweet and delicious fruit.)

And finally: After washing your blackberries, allow them to dry a little before placing them on a large cookie sheet (being careful to keep them separated), freeze them, and then with a spatula loosen them from the cookie sheet and dump them into a large zip-lock freezer bag for future baking or for anything you want to add a delicious burst of flavour to.

Happy picking! Edward Rogers, Coquitlam