I will paint this morning and into the afternoon, but then I will take a break and gather the donkeys in the field. "Line up, quality control will now begin!"
Pino tests one berry for ripeness, then Lucia gives her opinion on tartness, and finally Paco rates texture. I follow up with overall sensuality of the berry.
Last year I gathered so many berries I made blackberry breads and cobblers through July. You know the berries are entering into their ripe stage when all the animals
come to the barn at night with red juice stained noses. The white headed Boer goats are the funniest, as they will climb up into the bramble, and end up with purple spots all over their bodies.
Feeding a blackberry to Pino is one of my many farm delights this month. He takes the berry, tucks it in his mouth, takes a tiny 'suck', then s...l...o...w..l..y chews, very carefully, very deliberately.He moves not one muscle of his body, but focuses solely on that one berry in his mouth. Would we all focus on each bite, how the world would slow a bit, how we would all take notice of so many more subtle nuances of nature's bounty.The bounties of the vegetable garden are coming full force now. We are very fortunate to have space to grow food. Next week, our lamb meat will be ready for pickup. We increased our hanging weights [this is the weight of the actual carcass by 5-10 pounds this year. I'm so proud of our boys. And Mr. T, as his genes helped too. It will feed us through the year.. We will be eating our own land, so to speak.
