Pass the Antioxidants and Some Pepto Please

I have never been what some may call a "healthy eater".  My parents did their best to force-feed me vegetables of all sorts, and I have clear memories of sitting at that kitchen table and not getting up until the broccoli is gone young lady.  I devised all kinds of strategies of vegetable avoidance, including but not limited to stuffing them under the cushion of the kitchen chair to rot.  I also stayed at the kitchen table and did not get up until bedtime several nights because I didn't want to eat beans.  Or was it mashed potatoes?  Or maybe it was the broccoli again.  I don't remember.

I have just never been the type of person to crave "good for you" food.  I have friends who drool and get all misty eyed at the thought of a good spinach salad with radishes.  Oh, how I wish that were me.  But it is not.

But I have found nature's perfect food.  

And rumor has it, it comes complete with antioxidants!

I could eat blackberries everyday.  For every meal.  And never, ever get tired of them.  My pick-your-own strawberry place has blackberries for the next couple of months.  

Oh my heavens.  

They are beautiful.  And so many poor little plump blackberries will just fall to the ground in perfect ripeness because not enough Mandys are available to pick them.  Our little family headed out there last Friday and did our part in saving the poor ripe blackberries from devastation.  For an entire weekend I had blackberries for breakfast, with my lunch, as a snack, and as dessert.  Several cups fulfilled their blackberry destiny by becoming my first ever cobbler.  Please heed this advice:  If you eat 4 pounds of blackberries in 4 days, your digestive system WILL REVOLT.  Especially if you top of the weekend with enchiladas.

Moving on.

Dane has inherited his mother's ability to just keep pickin' those blackberries until Daddy tells us we have to stop because what in tarnation are we going to do with 15 pounds of blackberries when we get home.  Brandon taught Dane how to just pick the ripe ones, so I didn't have to pay for a box full of red berries.  I heard this screamed enthusiastically throughout our morning:

B:  What kind are we looking for, Dane?

D:  BIG, BLACK, AND JUICY!!

Are there any places this conversation would be appropriate other than a blackberry patch?  

I think not.

Look at the sheer joy on that face.  He is so my son.

Blueberries are also in season, which, incidentally, are much more fun to pick off the bushes than they are to actually eat.
Aidan's miniature attention span was in attendance last Friday, and he was bored with the whole process about 10 minutes into the trip.  Fortunately, they had plenty of grass to distract him from all of the blackberry goodness.
Have a great weekend!  Just remember, if you pick up a pint or 8 of blackberries at the store today, don't forget the Pepto Bismal!