I remember back when I was a kid, my mother would bundle all of us kids up in long sleeve shirts and then spray us all over with bug spray. It was an annual ritual each year right at blackberry picking time. There was a spot near a lake by our house that had wild blackberries and every year we would go pick that dark fruit so mom could make jelly.

Now this wasn’t a ritual I really wanted to do as a kid. It was hot, especially with the long sleeves we had to wear to protect our arms. Bugs would swarm around our heads and it seemed like even though we had bug spray on, they still were biting us (I think the bug spray has gotten stronger since then). But while I may have been miserable and don’t even like blackberries, it was still something I did with my family and we always had a good time.

So this week’s video blog really brings back memories of my childhood picking blackberries with my family.

~Alisa Hines

On the Horizon: U Pick’em from Alisa Hines on Vimeo.