This was  one of the latest project for my husband and me. We live out in the country and our land is blessed with a few native fruits, which we try to make the most of. These are dewberry vines that have grown in this spot and produced a lot of berries most years since we decided to just allow them to stay. We had mowed then down to make room for blueberry bushes which didn’t survive. The dewberries were determined to take over, so they earned this spot and special care.

It’s back aching work to harvest the berries when the vines are heavy with fruit, weighing them down. Sometimes the vines are weighted to the ground tangled with the grass, and splashed with dirt when we have hard rain. Then there is still the large tangle of those vines that is hard to get through to get the berries. Those berries are the ones that seem juicier and more plump, so never mind all the scratches one is rewarded with to get to those berries.

I had mentioned that we needed to get some fencing to make cages to put around these vines to lift them up from the ground. Roy went to the “do it yourself” store and found two options. This fencing is what he bought; not what I had pictured but much nicer. Roy and I worked for a couple of days getting all of these vines untangled and woven into the fencing. It took a lot of patience, some nice thick gloves, and a few breaks for our backs. It was so rewarding to see the difference, and to know that harvesting those berries will be so much easier this season than ever before.

I already have visions of dewberry jelly, pie, cobbler, and whatever else we can imagine! Dewberry syrup is a new vision I have for some of these berries. It would be great on pancakes, biscuits, and well, whatever else we decide to use it on. We’ve harvest some of these berries and this spring is tasting so good. Such a treasure we have been blessed with. I am now thanking God that the tangle of berry vines were so hardy that we don’t have a lot of maintenance to do and still enjoy its richness.

Have a very blessed day, friends.